The Legends date back to the beginning of civilization.

A dragon.

A God.

The world of men is shaped by this figure.

The world of men has forever seeked to control this power.

And there is no cost too great.

Not even their own people.

Dragon Tears

I: Age of Man

By: OmegaGear

XX

The Coming

It was a restless night as I lay in my bed staring up at the blank ceiling. We did not have another event that day, and spend the remainder in our cells. Joachim was unresponsive to my questions, and I was left to ponder what I had experienced alone.

The act of killing a defenseless man was sickening enough to me, but to do it for sport in front of a crowd was truly dishonorable. Joachim seemed like an honorable person, yet he had been so non-chalant about killing the man for the crowd.

The fullen shared my cell with me, and hadn’t moved most of the night, but I could tell he was still awake as well. He lay there with his hands behind his head and gazing at the ceiling much like I was, until finally he spoke.

“You cannot hesitate,” he said to me, although not looking at me to address me directly.

I did not answer him, but turned to look at him from my bed as he continued to look up at the stone ceiling.

“This life we live… it is not like the lives we left,” he continued. “We fight for the crowd… we kill for the crowd. We must give them what they want.”

I thought about what I had witnessed this afternoon, and the words he was speaking now. It was true, I was no longer living the life of a free man, but I was still holding onto my old ways of living. I had not yet abandoned the honor I was taught to uphold.

“If we do not please the crowd, then it is death,” he finished.

That, I understood. Death was not a pleasing thought, and certainly was motivation to do a good job. But I could tell that Joachim did not enjoy pleasing the blood thirst of the mob in the coliseum. He was against killing for sport, much like I was; I could tell.

Joachim became silent again after that, and I was left to meditate on the future. I returned to staring at the stone ceiling and felt myself begin to drift off as the moon rose to its highest point outside the barred window. A large group of guards passed by my cell door, and I listened to their footsteps. The steady sound lulled me into sleep as I meditated on Joachim’s words.

To displease the crowd is death…

--

I crouched behind a tree as Myn slowly made his way to his position. I could see him with his back against the wall not too far from me, slowly inching towards where the two gate guards were standing. He did not look at me, but instead continued without looking for my signal.

When I reached the pillars just before the gate, he stopped. I saw him glance at me and I nodded. Yuri had already reached his spot and given me his signal before Myn had even come into view. I slowly unzipped the back of my dress and let my wings out. The pure white feathers magically appeared from my back as I let them slowly spread out.

It had been a while since I had let my wings out, and it felt good to let them stretch, but I had a job to do. Skillfully, I lifted my wings into the air and fluttered them rhythmically. I made sure to not be too loud to alert the guards, but loud enough for Yuri to hear as Myn saw them.

Myn saw my signal and stepped out from behind the pillars. The guards did not take notice, and hopefully wouldn’t get a chance. I must have done my job well, as a gust of wind blew past the guards and caused them to turn their backs to Myn to shield their eyes from the whipping leaves.

With the loud sound of the wind in their ears, they did not even hear Myn step behind them, and with one quick chop to each of their necks with a bright blue spark each time, he knocked them out.

The two guards fell to the ground without a word and the wind suddenly stopped. I retracted my wings, using the ancient magic to place them inside my body and closed up my dress. Myn motioned me over, and I slowly advanced, careful not to make a sound.

When I reached him, Yuri dropped down from above and opened the gate to let us all in. Our fourth person was not with us, however, as she was on the other side working to secure an escape.

The building we were in was a small type of prison connected to the coliseum. It was where all of the gladiators were held, with living quarters for their masters on the second and third floors. We were on the ground floor, which was mostly a large open plaza with the master quarters overlooking it and guards all along the top walkways.

“No good,” Yuri whispered as he peered into the open area. “No place to hide from sight.”

“The guards are more concerned with what’s outside of the building. They’ll be able to hear an escape before it reaches this point, so all we have to do is proceed as quietly as possible.” Myn said.

We did just that, hugging the wall covered in shadow and slowly walking with our backs against it. I kept my eye on the guards above, but they never turned to look down into the plaza, and continued to pace on the walkways looking out towards the streets.

When we reached the other side, Yuri led us down some stairs and then stopped us at the bottom in front of two large wooden doors.

“These are where most of the cells are,” he said. “According to Cassandra, there are two floors of cells, and Ryu is on this one, the upper floor. She also said that the only guards present are in the weapon room.”

“That’s good for us, let’s just hope none of these lowlifes make a ruckus when they see us,” Myn said.

We advanced quickly through the halls leading deep into the prison, passing by dozens of cells occupied by a pair of gladiators each. Most of them were asleep, and we were quiet enough to pass by without notice.

Myn stopped us at a cell and peered into it. I looked into the dark, empty room, and saw no sign of life.

“Myn?” I asked.

Myn flinched and looked at me. He had a look of deep concentration, and again stared into the empty cell. “Something’s not right,” he said.

I stepped closer to him and watched his face closely. “What is it?” I asked.

“The spirits are uneasy,” he said grimly.

I did not have a thorough understanding of the spirits of the brood, but I was beginning to pick up the basics. I knew that Myn and the others could communicate them through meditation, and it was a way they could sense the surrounding area in a supernatural level.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Normally… I would be able to tell you,” he answered. “That’s what troubles me.”

Before I could ask for an explanation, Yuri cut in. “Something’s silencing them.”

Myn looked at the two of us and then turned to face forward again. “We must hurry,” he exclaimed, sprinting off before we could say anything else.

Yuri grabbed my hand and followed after Myn. I tried to keep pace, but was not as quick, and began to drag my feet on the ground. Yuri noticed and hoisted me up onto his back. “Be ready, your highness,” he said. “I do not think we can rely on stealth any longer.”

I held onto Yuri tightly and looked ahead as Myn reached the doorway leading to the next hall of cells. He stopped suddenly and motioned us to stand back.

“Yuri,” he said urgently. “Protect Nina!”

With that, Myn pulled out his sword and did something I had never seen before. He began to glow brightly as he bent down on his legs and sprang forward, only he appeared to turn into blue sparks of energy, and the door exploded.

As the dust cleared, I saw a few shadowy figures, one of which was on the ground. There was shouting, and the sound of guns going off, but no sign of Myn. Suddenly, he appeared for a second, cutting down one of the figures, and then vanished again into blue sparks. He appeared an instant later, disarming a man of his weapon, and again vanished. This continued several more times until all of the men were subdued, and Yuri finally led me through the doorway.

I looked down at the men Myn had been fighting. They were the same as the guards outside; nothing strange at all.

“Myn, why?” I began to ask, but was hushed when Yuri suddenly stopped and startled me.

I looked ahead and saw more men, with Myn facing them. These were not like the guards he had just fought. They wore dark red uniforms; the color of the Imperial military.

A man standing behind them yelled out an order, and they took aim with their rifles and fired a volley of bullets. Myn barely flinched as his free hand moved as a blur in front of him. None of the bullets hit him, and as the sound of the shots died he dropped them from his hand.

The soldiers all looked at each other and began to back away, but their commanding officer yelled more orders, and they reformed their line.

Yuri let me down and crouched next to me. “Stay close, Nina,” he said, “and watch our backs.”

I nodded when suddenly another volley of shots were fired. Myn caught the bullets again, but instead of dropping them, he threw them back at the soldiers. The bullets harmlessly spread out slowly as they flew at the soldiers, much too slow to really hurt them, but they were bewildered by the strange attack.

This moment of hesitation proved fatal as they did not notice Myn’s next move. With one swift motion of his blade, he sent a bolt of lightning into the spray of bullets. The small bolt hit one bullet, and shot to another, attracted by the pieces of metal. As it pounced from bullet to bullet n the blink of an eye, all of the guards were struck, and stunned unconscious.

As the bullets dropped to the ground, Yuri and I caught up to Myn, who was now on top of the heap of soldiers.

“What are they doing here?” I asked.

Myn did not answer me. His behavior was uncharacteristic of him, and what he did next was as shocking. He clenched his hand into a fast and swung it backwards against the barred cell door next to him. The metal gate blew open with a loud boom, and dropped to the ground with a clang.

What I saw next felt unreal. Without a word, Ryu stepped out of the open doorway and Myn turned to face him. The scene was right in front of my face, but it seemed so far away, like in a dream. I could barely believe it.

--

I awoke from my quiet slumber as I heard the distant sound of a door way breaking open. Some men were yelling, and soon after shots began to go off, followed by grunts and cries. I heard what sounded like bodies hitting the floor and then a silence.

Rolling out of bed, I saw a row of imperial soldiers lined up just outside the metal bars of my cell. I hadn’t seen any imperial presence in this city before, and to see them in the prison like this was very awkward.

“Ready weapons!” I heard one of the soldiers shout, the commanding officer. The men took a standard two row position with the front kneeling to allow simultaneous fire. They lifted their rifles and took aim at whomever it was they were fighting and awaited the command to fire.

The commanding officer threw his hand forward and barked, “Fire!”

The two rows of men fired their rifles, sending a flurry of bullets. The faint green glow of charged chrysm lit up my cell for a second, followed by an all too familiar smell. I recognized their weapons by the smell alone, but looked at them closely, not quite believing what was happening. They were the newest single shot long rifles, giving only to the elite trained marksmen. For such high caliber military to be here meant something serious was happening.

I couldn’t see their target from the door way, but heard a strange swooshing sound in the distance. A few seconds passed after the volley, and the soldier remained in their positions until the chime of bullets hitting the ground could be heard. They all looked at each other in disbelief and began to break formation, but their commander was not finished yet.

“Form ranks!” he yelled.

There was a moment of stumbling as the men regained their composure, and again, they formed the two rows and readied their rifles.

“Fire!” the commander yelled again.

Again, the men fired their rifles, and again, I heard the same strange swooshing sound. This time, however, I did not hear bullets hitting the ground, and the soldiers all began to panic. A bright blue flash caught me by surprise, and a bolt of lightning danced around the group of soldiers, striking them all through their bodies. All at once, they collapsed into a heap, not dead, but unconscious.

It was at this moment I began to realize who they must have been fighting, and a strange feeling began to creep into my body. I felt anxiety, and stared at my hands. My vision began to blur slightly, and I could again hear those voices from before, except they were incoherent, muffled. It was as if something was covering their mouths, silencing them.

This sensation only lasted a few seconds, and I came back to myself with a sudden rush. It was like a cool breeze had hit me, and a cloaked figure was now standing outside of my cell. I did not need to ask him his name, for I knew who it was. There was no doubt that this was the guardian Myn.

I heard some voices behind him when he suddenly broke down the iron bars of my cell with just a wave of his hand. The heavy gate fell with a loud clang and I found myself face to face with someone whom I should have considered my enemy, but I did not feel threatened. Something told me he was here to help me, and I stepped through the open door without a word.

As I stepped over the fallen gate I looked up into Myn’s cloaked face. I could not see his eyes, but could sense them looking back at me, reading me as I was him. I looked over to the right at the others that were with him; a man and a girl. The man was also cloaked, and I could not make out any discernable details.

The girl, on the other hand, was not cloaked, and looked very familiar. She had light brown hair, and the most vibrant green eyes I had ever seen. Her clothes were non-descript, but there was no denying who she was. How she was able to travel like this was beyond my thinking.

I was finished taking in the people around me when the muffled voices again began to ring in my ears. I tried to listen to them; to hear what they had to say, but could not make out a single word. Instinctually, I placed my hands over my ears to try to block out all other noise, and while this did seem to make the voices louder, it did no good to clear up their words.

My head began to feel light, and the room appeared to be spinning slightly as the voices died out. I chook my head a bit, and felt it clear up and looked back up at Myn. He nodded, admitting that he knew what it was that I was experiencing.

“We must go,” he said calmly. “There is no telling what danger is approaching that may silence the voices of the dead.”

“Wait,” I said, speaking for the first time that night. I turned back to the open cell and called into it. “Joachim, come with us,” I pleaded.

A tall, muscular figure approached the open doorway. The fullen was expressionless as he exited the dark cell and into the dimly lit hall. The flickering light of the torches lining the walls accentuated his golden fur, and almost made him look somber.

He did not speak, but I could tell he was eyeing Myn. I didn’t blame his lack of trust, but I felt we could not waste time establishing any, and urged him to follow us.

“You can be free,” I said. “Please, come with us.”

Joachim did not voice an answer, but reach down to the heap of bodies. He retrieved a large combat knife from two of the soldiers and slid them into his belt and nodded.

I looked at Myn with a bit of excitement and he shook his head towards the broken doorway. We all made our way quickly through the halls, alert for any resistance, but met none. Many of the prisoners were awake now, and shouting at each other, and into the halls as we passed, obviously wanting to be freed as well.

We reached some stairs and ascended them quickly. Myn turned his face and yelled at the other cloaked man.

“Yuri,” he said, “any word from Cassandra?”

The cloaked figure appeared to shake his head as we reached the top of the stairs. “None,” he said. “But I doubt I’d be able to hear anything with whatever is causing the spirits to go silent.”

“Damn,” Myn cursed. He was about to continue forward, but I stopped him.

“Wait!” I exclaimed.

“Do not stay my path,” Myn said.

I didn’t listen to him, and inhaled sharply through my nose. The faint smell of a unique mist teased my nostrils, and I recognized it as that of the long rifles I saw earlier.

“There was a fight here,” I said, smelling the mist more clearly now that I knew what to look for. The new long rifles had a sort of silencer where the chrysm is charged to propel the bullet forward. This didn’t do anything to silence the shot, but it did snuff the resulting scent almost completely. The smell left behind by any chrysm charge is referred to as mist when examined, as it appears as a kind of foggy substance when viewed through specific light spectrums. While in a battle snuffing mist isn’t important, this technology was created specifically for assassinations and snipers.

“Impressive,” a man said from afar.

We all looked around the plaza in front of us, but could not make out anyone on the ground, or on the pathways overlooking it. Myn held his arm out to prevent anyone from moving forward while Yuri stood in front of Nina.

“You’ve been gone a long time, soldier,” the man said, obviously addressing me. “But it seems you haven’t forgotten your training.”

“Who’s there!?” I shouted to the shadows of night.

At the far end of the plaza a dark figure moved from the wall and into the moonlight, revealing a young looking man. His face was fair skinned with very light blue eyes, and slender cheeks that led to a pointed chin. He had long, straight hair that went down to his ears, and appeared an eerie silverfish blue in the moon’s white glow.

While not the tallest person, he carried himself confidently, or arrogantly, depending on who you ask. He wore a military uniform, but it wasn’t the standard color of a foot soldier. It was grayish blue, which meant he was a general. Being a general also meant he wasn’t alone.

I began to tense and tried to make any others that may have been with the man, but could not see anything in the shadows cast by the tall walls of the prison. Myn held me back and pulled out his sword in preparation as did the others with their weapons.

“My name isn’t important,” the man said. He had stopped advancing, remaining a good fifty feet away from us in the middle of the plaza. “But yours is, Ryu,” he added.

A very awkward silence fell on us as the voices began to whisper at the corners of my ears. I didn’t know what he was getting at, but this feeling was becoming familiar to me.

“Ah, still playing the clueless one, eh?” he said, sounding amused. “No matter…”

The man began to pace back and forth with his hands crossed behind his back, as if interrogating us. None of us moved as we watched him closely.

“You don’t have to know anything… yet,” he said. “However…”

Myn made a choking sound and pushed me behind him as he raised his sword in both of his hands. I was taken by surprise by this, and nearly fell down, but caught myself by grabbing Myn’s cloak. I looked at the man and this sudden turn of events had me on edge.

The man’s arms uncrossed and flew forward faster than I thought possible. I could not see what were in his hands, but the faint green glow and rapid banging sounds left nothing to my imagination. He let off over a dozen shots in a single second, and we were not prepared.

Myn yelled something I didn’t catch and threw me to the side. I tucked into a roll and looked back to see everyone else had also managed to roll out of the way of the shots. I looked back to the man, but saw nothing. Not a thing was where the man had once been standing, and not a sound could be heard.

We all got up slowly and scanned the area for the man, but none of us saw him. I couldn’t see or hear anything except the chirps of bugs, until a loud click rang in my ear.

I froze. Nina gasped, but other than that, there was nothing spoken. I felt something cold at the back of my neck nudge me and raised my arms slowly.

“Your place is with us, Ryu,” the man said as he held a gun to my neck. “We’ve been searching a long time for you.”

“You can’t have him,” Myn said firmly. He was barely six feet away from us with his sword ready to strike.

“Mmm… you must be the one they call Myn,” the man said. He seemed rather interested in that fact, and I heard him chuckle slightly. “Well, I can’t possibly stand a chance against one such as you… The stories they tell describe you as an invincible knight; fast as lightning, and strong as thunder.”

I felt the gun on my neck release its pressure just a bit and prepared for the worst. I shut my eyes and gulped loudly.

“However…” the man said, letting his voice trail off. I heard a flurry of shots go off and jumped, expecting to feel the sharp bite of hot metal, but felt nothing.

I opened my eyes slowly and saw that no one was hurt. It was becoming clear to me that these attacks were meant to just stun us while he moved, but to where this time? That answer came to me as soon as the thought entered my mind when I heard the faint whimper of a young girl.

There, behind everyone else, stood Nina with the man holding a gun to her neck like he had been to me. No one made a move, not even Joachim, whom was closest to the two.

“I doubt even you can save the princess now,” he said, sounding quite sinister.

“You…” Myn began to hiss and took a step closer towards the pair.

“Ah, ah, ah,” the man said. He pushed the gun harder against Nina’s neck, causing her to yelp. I could see her shaking, even from as far away as I was, and tears began to well up in her eyes.

Myn stopped his advance, but seeing Nina like that was giving me a burning feeling in my chest. “You bastard,” I said.

The man’s eyes glanced at me and he suddenly lost the amused smirk. “Least of all, you,” he said. “You couldn’t prevent your own death. What makes you think you can prevent hers?”

I took another step forward and clenched my hands into fists. I had no weapon, but that did not matter to me; all that mattered was freeing Nina.

“Humph,” the man smirked and the amused tone crept back into his voice. “You know, the briefing made no mention of any princesses or guardians,” he said matter of factly. “I think I’ll just kill her and let these lawless dregs answer for it.”

The man pulled the trigger and we all froze. He did it. He really did it. I was stunned in disbelief, and it was like time froze as this madman fired his gun. The loud click of the trigger echoed louder than any sound I could remember hearing in my entire life, but all it was, was a click.

“What!?” The man hissed, looking down at his gun. He pulled the trigger again, and again, only a click. He popped open the ignition casing, and cursed as he pulled out a chrysm crystal that had somehow been coated with ice.

Myn seized this opportunity and made for the pair with his sword drawn at his shoulder. The man threw Nina aside and pointed his other gun at Myn, but the same clicking sound could be heard. By then, Myn had reached the man and attempted to cut him down. The man ducked under the attack and rolled away while shutting his gun’s ignition chamber.

As he got to his feet, the man released a volley of shots at Myn and suddenly sank into the ground. I blinked twice, not believing what I had seen, but there was no denying it. The mysterious general had really sunk into the ground without a trace.

“What the hell was that?” I asked. “He just disappeared.”

“He’s not gone yet,” Joachim said. Joachim’s ears twitched and he crouched low to the ground. He felt around the stone floor and inhaled through his nose like he was tracking an animal. He scanned the area slowly and then suddenly turned back towards the gate at the far end with his weapons drawn.

There stood the general with his guns raised. “Enough games,” he said.

With a wave of his hand the area suddenly became alive with movement. Spot lights lit up the plaza and dozens of soldiers appeared on the over-passing walkways with all manner of weapons ready. People were shouting out orders and surrounding us from every direction. If we wanted to run, the only open route was back into the lower levels of the prison.

“Now then…” the general stepped forward and holstered his guns. “I was going to just sneak in and retrieve this boy without harming anyone,” he explained. “But as I said, there was no mention of any princesses, or guardians… specially from a foreign nation that we happen to be at war with.”

No one said a word as the general paced back and forth in front of us. I wanted to strike down this arrogant man, but I knew I could not. There were at least a hundred soldiers surrounding us, and there was no telling what was outside of the prison.

“You can hand over the boy and the princess,” he said, “and no one will die, or…” he slowly turned around so his back was to us. His tone became grim as he finished his offer. “You can fight, and everyone; all the women, the children, free men, and slave will die when my men raze this city to the ground.”

“Do you really think we care?” Myn spoke coldly. “These are your people, not ours,” he said. “And even if we did care about them and gave in to your demands, what makes you think you could keep your hands on them?”

The general turned around looking most un-amused. “I am through talking,” he said, just as coldly as Myn had spoken. “Hand over them, now.”

Myn did not give an answer and instead drew his sword. “Yuri!” he shouted,”wind!”

“Right!” Yuri replied, pulling a long staff from his cloak. He began to spin the staff over his head and created a strong whirlwind around us.

Myn pulled us close together and told us all to hang on as he charged his sword with blue energy. I grabbed hold of Nina and Joachim and when Myn released the energy he struck his blade into the ground and created a huge shockwave.

The shockwave cracked the stone floor beneath us and launched us up into the air, carried high above the prison walls by Yuri’s whirlwind. I gripped Nina and Joachim tightly, and they too held onto me harder as we seemed to be flying free of any control.

Everything was spinning around us as we continued to fly through the air until we landed with a thud. I landed on my back and curled my arm around Nina as she landed on top of me. Joachim demonstrated his cat-like reflexes and twisted in the air to land on his feet. I could not see Myn or Yuri land, but saw them when I was able to get up.

We had landed on one of the walkways looking over the plaza, and were surrounded by a dozen soldiers on each side. Myn and Yuri quickly dispatched the soldiers, throwing them over the edge and pushing forward through a doorway. Yuri slammed the door shut behind us and we found ourselves in what looked like a living quarters.

The room was shabby by modern civilized standards, but much nicer than the cells below, and certainly good enough to live in from someone in this place. In the corner I saw a fat man cowering with his hands over his head. It was the man that ‘owned’ Joachim and I.

“Now, now,” he said shakily. “No need to get violent, eh?” he asked, more like pleaded.

None of us said a word as we walked past him to the doorway on the other end of the room and opened it. Myn went first, headstrong into another throng of soldiers that shouted and fired their guns uselessly at him. The fat man yelped and ducked into a ball in the corner when Myn sent a large portion of the walkway crumbling into the plaza with a strike of his sword.

With a chunk of the walkway gone, we now had a perch low enough to jump from. Myn quickly ushered us down into the hole he had formed in the wall and we jumped down outside of the prison walls one at a time with Myn and Yuri coming last.

We were just a few feet from the prison gates, by a giant well. Just as I had suspected, there were many more soldiers waiting outside of the prison, and they had more than just weapons. A mobile turret vehicle called a rancor was standing just ahead of us and its guns were aimed at us.

The metal beast stood on two giant clawed legs that could travel faster than a human could run when in attack mode. It had two gun pods with a pair of turrets on each, one that could aim upwards and the other downwards. With three hundred and sixty degrees of motion and the ability for the entire vehicle to tilt and turn, there was nothing that could hide from its guns.

“Oh shi-” I began to say, but was cut off as the turrets began to open fire. We ducked behind the giant stone well as bullets tore through trees, brick walls, and sent sharp debris in all directions. With nowhere to go, we huddled in close, trying to be as small a target as possible, but I could still feel the sting of small shards hitting me.

“What now?” Yuri asked Myn.

“There’s no telling how many of them are here,” he said. “We can’t return to the wagon like this. They probably have the whole city locked down.”

“I’m not talking about that,” Yuri exclaimed as bullets whipped just over our heads. “We have to figure out how to get that far first!”

At that moment, the surrounding city came to life as citizens were awoken by the sound of the turrets. People were screaming and crying as they fled into the streets from their bullet riddled buildings and ran frantically from the soldiers.

Some of the people didn’t take so cowardly a stance, and formed a small mob. This mob hurled chunks of debris at the soldiers and shouted at them with crude weapons in hand. The soldiers ducked from the stones and opened fire on the mob while the rancor continued to shower our area with its guns. The mob quickly scattered s bullets began to take them down, and the streets filled with chaos as the soldiers pursued the mob and continue to fire even when they blended in with the people simply trying to get away.

As if matters weren’t bad enough, the ground began to shake violently. I was unsure of what was happening, but I also didn’t have time to think.

The sound of moving water could be heard inside the well, so loud that not even the turrets could be heard over it. I grabbed Nina’s hand and covered her with my arm as a torrent of water flew out of the well. The water reached high into the air and began to spread out in all directions like the branches of a tree. As this happened the water suddenly froze into a solid pillar of ice. The large drops that had already split off became balls of hails and bombarded the soldiers, causing them to retreat momentarily, but the rancor remained vigilant.

The quartet of gatling guns fired through the ice pillar and caused it to collapse. We quickly ran out of the cover of the well as ice exploded everywhere and the pillar began to tip under its weight. Yuri took his staff and created a gust of wind to push the pillar towards the rancor. The guns suddenly stopped as the pillar came toppling down, and I could hear the sound of the rancor retreating out of harm’s way.

Myn shouted for us to run for it and we did. The loud crash of the pillar of ice drowned out our foot steps as we ran into the alley between some buildings. We paused in a dark pathway and caught our breath while scouting out the area. The faint sounds of shouting people and gun fire could be heard in the distance, but none of it seemed to be close.

“Doesn’t look like they’re around here quite yet,” Yuri said.

“They’re not,” a woman said.

I was shocked at the sudden voice and planted my back to the wall. I made sure I was between Nina and where the voice had come from and Joachim stood in front of me with his daggers out.

“Cassandra,” Myn said, addressing the cloaked woman. “Nice work back there. I suppose it was you that froze that man’s guns as well.”

“That is correct,” she said, not really sounding flattered or proud of saving us twice. “I noticed the soldiers moving in mere seconds after we parted ways. I tried to send word of it to you, but the spirits are unable to speak.”

“Yes,” Myn confirmed. “Yuri and I noticed this when we had entered the prison. Most peculiar… what have you been able to find out about the soldiers?”

“They have not laid the city under siege,” she said, “but they number in the hundreds. I do not know how far their influence reaches right now, but they are definitely concentrated at the prison.”

“Of course,” Myn said. “They’re after Ryu, just like us.”

“If that’s the case though,” Yuri interjected, “why try to kill him? I doubt that thing was shooting blanks, and even if it was, they’d rip through a human body anyways.”

“They need Ryu alive,” Myn admitted. “But the rest of us are expendable. Most likely they’re banking that Ryu’s powers will keep him alive if he’s hit.”

“What should we do?” she asked.

“I’m still working on that,” Myn said. “Let’s hope we can find a place to lay low for a while and figure out how to sneak out of here.”

As if to shoot down that idea, the stone wall by us suddenly crumbled with an explosion and the rancor came stomping into the alley. Without a word we ran for it and exited the alley as the men inside of it took notice of us. All four turrets opened fire, cutting through buildings as we ran down the street and scattered.

I kept Nina with me, and Joachim followed, but Myn and the others split off, which left us nearly defenseless.

With the giant metal beast wreaking havoc, the buildings around us emptied just like at the prison. Dozens of people flooded into the street and ran as they saw the monstrous tank firing its guns. I tried to take Nina with me into the crowd, but we could not keep up. Unlike everyone else, we didn’t know where to run to get out of the city, or to anyplace that might be considered safe. As the crowd began to thin out, with us slowly falling to the back, I took Nina to the side and looked for cover.

The rancor stopped firing, having lost sight of us as we ducked into a dark corner by some barrels. Its search lights scanned the area as it slowly advanced down the street, and we huddled close. The metal stomping was getting closer, and the light kept passing over us, but its angle would soon be able to cover us.

The ground shook as the rancor bore down on us and the lights revealed our position. The gatling guns in the turrets began to spin as it prepared to fire and I was quick to lift Nina in my arms and start to run.

Joachim sprinted in the opposite direction and vaulted off the barrels as the turrets began to fire. He pounced off of the walls and reached the roof tops as I ran into another open street. I looked back and forth for a place to take cover, but there were no alleys or obstacles to hide behind. The rancor’s footsteps could be heard behind me and my shadow stretched down the street as its lights locked onto me.

I let Nina down and turned around as the metal beast stood before us, almost appearing alive. Its joints hissed exhaust as it came to a stop and tilted its guns down on us. We were alone, and without a weapon. The men inside sensed this, and did not open fire.

“Do you surrender?” a muffled voice spoke from a speaker on the rancor.

I gulped as I felt Nina grip my arm. I could feel her trembling, and had to admit, I was shaking too. I couldn’t think for myself, but didn’t want to see Nina die because of me. I made the only choice I could think of to protect her.

“I do,” I said.

At that moment a loud howl echoed through the street and I saw Joachim leap from the roof of the building behind the rancor and land on top of it. The rancor turned at its torso at where the howl had come from, but couldn’t spot Joachim. He crawled over its top slowly until he reached one of its top turrets.

The man inside spotted him and yelled something as he turned his gun on him. The other top turret also turned, and this proved erroneous. The two turrets blasted each other while Joachim flipped out of the cross fire and disappeared on the rancor’s back. There was a second of screaming and confusion, and I took the opportunity to get Nina out of harm’s way.

We ran as fast as we could to the side, but I wouldn’t run away. I couldn’t leave Joachim there alone.

“Stay here,” I said. “They won’t go looking for you if they have me.”

“What? No!” Nina cried, but I ignored her pleads and made my way back towards the rancor, which was again using its search lights to spot anyone on the ground.

I could see Joachim hanging onto the back still, slowly climbing his way down to its legs. The remaining two gunmen and pilot did not seem to take notice of him, and continued to scan the perimeter.

I hugged a nearby wall as I reached the rancor, making sure to stay behind it. Joachim did not give me any sign that he saw me, but continued to go about his own mission alone. He had reached the hip of the torso and was now looking at the far leg. There was about eight feet between the legs, so it was quite a bit of distance to leap, but Joachim was up for it, and as the rancor spun in the favorable direction, he made the jump.

Joachim climbed down to the joint of the leg and watched the two turrets. I trailed the rancor’s back, remaining out of sight while Joachim took out his dagger and began to cut the hydraulic joint. The joint was made up of a large metal pipe with rubber tubes that supplied water pressure. These tubes were Joachim’s target, and although thick, he was able to cut through them in time.

With the sudden loss of power in one of its legs, the rancor collapsed onto its knee. Joachim leapt off of the mechanical beast as it nearly fell over and joined me at its back. The rancor did not move for a moment as steam and liquid leaked from its severed joint.

I had basic knowledge of how these types of systems worked and knew that it was not over yet. As I thought, the pilot was able to shut off that leg’s hydraulic joint and run it on pure torque. While this would mean it had greatly reduced speed and mobility, it could at least stand again.

Joachim watched slightly stunned as the metal beast got back onto its feet and began to slowly turn. As the gears in its severed joint creaked and churned, Joachim sighed.

“These things mimic living creatures up until the dying part,” he said.

I looked over at the fullen, amazed that at a time like this he would crack a joke.

The rancor got us in its lights and took aim with its remaining two guns. There was a wall to our right and going left would take us back towards Nina. The situation didn’t give us an escape route I liked, and we stood our ground together as the rancor leaned forward, its guns barely a meter away from our faces.

“Do you surrender?” A muffled voice asked from a radio on the rancor’s head.

Neither of us answered and continued to stare at the beast as it stood completely still.

“If you come with us willingly, we will not harm you further,” said the voice. “I repeat; do you surrender?”

I thought it was funny that this man was talking like he had done the damage, and not us. Just as I thought that, though, doors began to open.

Out walked people of all ages to see what was happening. Women held their children to them as they saw the tank that looked more like a monster than a machine, and men stood before their families. I glanced at their scared faces, and realized what the man was talking about. He wasn’t talking about harming us. He was talking about the city.

“Give your answer,” the man demanded. The rancor suddenly stood up on its legs and its turrets turned to aim at the surrounding people. I heard children scream and women cry for their kids. I flinched and felt my heart sink as men shouted for us to get the hell out. I suddenly came to realize that all of this was about me; all the hunting and killing.

“Surrender,” the man demanded. “Or we will open fire.”

I had no choice, although it was going to be my choice anyways. The only difference now is that I was doing it with a heavy heart. I raised my arms in surrender and spoke, “I surrender.”

Just then, a bolt of lightning struck the rancor’s leg and sent it tumbling to the ground. The surrounding crowd reacted with shock, and some shut their doors to take cover. I nearly fell myself as the explosion was so close to me and Joachim.

I turned, expecting to see Myn, but to my surprise, the only one there was Nina. Her hands were pointing out in front of her chest with her palms open and fingers bent like they were making to grab something. The faintest hint of an aura surrounded her, and I knew then that she had used an incantation to create that bolt of lightning.

Nina waved for us to come on, and we sprinted after her as she ran down the street. There was no sound of pursuit, and we eventually stopped running. We had no idea where we were, and had not seen any sign of the others since we split up. Even if we could outrun the enemy, we couldn’t leave.

“Nice work, Nina,” I said, still catching my breath.

“Thanks,” Nina panted back. “I’m still not used to using my magic against people,” she explained. “I don’t like having to hurt anyone.”

I chuckled admirably at the girl. “I think you’re better off that way,” I said honestly.

We all shared a laugh when Joachim suddenly became stiff. He got down on all fours and placed his ear to the ground.

“Something’s coming,” he said.

“It can’t be,” I said, listening for the stomping of the rancor. No, it wasn’t. It was something else; something on wheels. The sound was getting louder quickly, but I couldn’t tell from what direction.

Before we could determine the direction the noise was coming from, a massive tank appeared rounding the corner into our street. I instantly recognized it as the rancor, only it had folded its legs at its sides and transformed into its transport mode. I had never seen it used in a combat situation before, but I guess the pilot had no choice but to try.

As I stood up to protect the others, Nina quickly stepped in front of me. She began to chant in a language I hadn’t heard before and a ball of energy formed in her hands. The tank was nearly upon us now, however, and her inexperience started to show. She stumbled on her words, and the ball of energy began to shrink and flicker.

I couldn’t watch any longer and threw Nina behind me with one arm and she yelped. A large bolt of lightning struck the tank from the sky and blew it to pieces before our very eyes. We were thrown backwards off our feet from the power of the shockwave and when I came to seconds later, debris was everywhere.

“Very impressive, Nina,” I heard Myn say.

I looked over and saw him standing there with Yuri and Cassandra next to him. I was amazed at what he had said. Could that have really been Nina whom caused that massive bolt of lightning?

“However, next time I suggest you finish off an opponent when he is down,” he explained. “You never know what they might bring when they come back.”

“So, it was you just now that destroyed the tank?” I asked.

“That’s not important,” Myn said, helping Nina to her feet. “The rest of the soldiers are still far behind, and we should take this opportunity to get out of this town.”

“Right,” I agreed, remembering what the situation was like presently. “Where are we exactly?”

“We’re not far from the road that leads out of this town,” he said. “Our wagon is tied down at an inn on that road.”

With everyone reunited, and well, we made our way to the main road swiftly. The area we were in was much quieter now, and nearly no one at all was awake.

We reached the wagon without another incident and Myn loaded us into it while he climbed into the front with Yuri. He woke up the birdlike creatures that pulled the wagon and started us off out of the town.

For the first time that night, I felt like I could breathe easily. Joachim and I had been freed, and now we were on our way to alliance soil. It was strange to be happy to be entering enemy territory, but at the moment, it felt a lot safer than my own. I had no idea what this was about, but it seemed that the empire was now after me for the same reason Myn and Yua are.

Myn and Yua both spoke of some kind of destiny that I could not avoid, although they both told very different stories. Myn seemed to revere me as some kind of godsend while Yua definitely saw me as the bringer of destruction.

I didn’t lull over these revelations long, however, as the nights events began to take their toll on me. I hadn’t had much sleep that night to begin with, and let out a yawn as my eyes began to close. I felt a light weight fall on my shoulder and opened my eyes to see Nina sleeping with her head leaning on me. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and I too fell into sleep, unaware of the journey that had just begun.

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Author’s Notes: Tried to finish this one before leaving town for a cousin’s wedding, but was way off the mark with that, lol. I’d like to congratulate Ari Auron and Wenny Jean on their marriage June 29th, 2007. I hope you all enjoy this chapter more than the last one. I certainly enjoyed writing it more.