Chapter 26 - Part 1

The red sister loomed over the capital of the Empire like an empress on her throne, looking down at her subjects in cold blood as they were being slaughtered and maimed. The red light of the moon melded into the red stone of the city, blazing it alight with violent hues of crimson. The blood that pooled on the ground paled in comparison. Screams of horror sang through the once melodic city. Within the lower district of Red Keep people fled for their lives in every direction, but it was futile. They were surrounded by fast monstrous creatures. Elongated members, sword-like hands, and vertical mouths that shrieked the dead awake terrorized the poor denizens of the city.

"Mama!" shouted Dobrik through the busy red darkness. His small frame wiggled through the crowd, but all he could see were panicked people running away from something. "Mama! Pa!" He shouted again, trying to find his parents. He looked frantically for them but could not see any familiar faces. It was too dark, the light stones that illuminated the nights of Red Keep had gone out.

"We're all going to die!" A man screamed as he ran past.

"No! Creators! Help us! What is that monster!?" The voice of a woman boomed through. Her baby wrapped tight on her torso as she clawed her way through others.

"Where are the guards!? Where is the Royal guard!?"

"The Order has to save us!"

Dobrik tried to ignore the rest and focus on his parents, but he was locked within a crowd, pushing him and swaying wherever they went. He had no power to push against them. Everyone was much broader and taller than him, obstructing his field of vision. He was helpless.

"Please - " He tried in vain to elbow his way out, but the more he struggled the more people pushed back. "I need to find me parents. Ma! Pa!" No one was listening to him. A stubborn fat man was blocking his left as he tried to escape the crowd. Frustrated, Drobrik, closed his eyes and put all of his strength into one big push, but his palms connected with nothing.

The fat man was sprawled on the ground, whimpering in fear. The men and women around him began pushing back and screaming. The child quickly dashed out, falling on the cobblestone street right on his knees. It hurt, and tears began to pool around his eyes.

"Getrout'me way, kid!" The fat man scrambled on his feet using Dobrik for leverage, struggling on the slippery stones. The man pushed him to the side before he made a run for it.

"That hurt!" Dobrik's mouth puckered into a frown building up to a piercing scream that he let go as his tears began to fall.

Loud thumps resounded through the bloody darkness of the night, approaching fast and nimble. Another shriek penetrated the night. Dorbik's sobs halted abruptly, his gaze locked on his feet. It sounded like it was right behind him. And he was right. The heavy footsteps stopped inches away from him, he was paralyzed with fear, only his chin was free to tremble as the creature's head lowered just above him. It released a deep chuffing sound that reverberated through his whole small body, it was communicating with others as they replied a few feet away. +

The creature rattled as it inhaled the air around Dobrik who was too scared to even think. The creature took another few whiffs and revolution came over it, it gave a disapproving squall and backed away.

The child felt the heavy steps of the creature distance itself away and took his heart in his teeth and slowly moved his legs. "Ma, Pa. I need to find them." He told himself as he looked around, in the dark bloody shadows people lay on the ground, unmoving. He tore his gaze away and began moving aimlessly calling for his parents.

-----

"Commander!" Araya spoke into her bonding stone, she flew through the city at incredible speed, ahead of any mron rider that she left behind. "I'm heading straight to the location, I trust your women and men can handle the situation without me." Her feet barely touched the ground as she propelled herself forward by throwing powerful force blasts behind her.

"Yes m'am! Our troops placed in the lower district already initiated in combat. We have reports of hostile Order Wielders. Be careful.... and I'm sorry" Commander Federc said, his last words but a whisper, it felt more like an intimate thought of a strong man that always stood his ground unapologetically. It felt wrong to hear them, but yet Araya was glad he said it.

"Understood." Araya soared through the red night, her robes billowed behind. The air was harsh and coarse scraping her delicate skin. She was making her way from the Red Keep Palace and even with her speed it was taking her more than she hoped to arrive at her destination. She was already halfway through the common district, even in the cover of darkness she was able to navigate flawlessly. The first sign of the attack was the simultaneous power outage of the light stones. It was like someone had blown a candle in a windowless room, the bright city plunged into total darkness, the only like was that of pure blood of the red sister. Araya never believed in superstition but could help but think that the predatory moon rose tonight as a bad omen.

Her heart beat incredibly fast, her only thoughts were of her friend Lwora. She prayed she would get there in time, cursing herself at the same time for not following her instincts and striking the moment she knew her location. She listened to Commander Federc when he told her to stand down, that they needed a plan first, to gather whatever troops had remained in the city. While he was correct in his judgement, it might have cost Araya her friend's life. He didn't know how powerful she actually was, even with almost zero combat experience, she could level a quarter of the Red Keep if she wanted to.

Within minutes she had arrived at the lower district gates that were shut closed, she had to slow down with a force blast in front and bracing herself with a strong barrier. People banged on thick gats but none had enough power to open it from the outside. Araya used her power to thrust them open and people began flooding in, screaming frantically in terror. She couldn't go as fast in here, as civilians fled every which way, screaming, crying. She smelled blood in the air, a few buildings were destroyed while a whole zone was ablaze. The fire was the only light now in the city that came right from the butcher's shop.

"I have to hurry!" She told herself and looked for a path, weaving through the masses, elbowing and dodging others. It was moving too slow. She bit her lip in frustration while she had to duck in an alley as the crowd was moving the opposite way as her. Araya couldn't take a moment to catch her breath as a child called for help from the end of the alley. She rushed towards the sound of crates braking and chuffing that made her skin prickle.

It opened to a wide inner garden that was filled with clothes lines, a single well stood at the center. At the far end of the garden was a child screaming at a creature hacking at something, fully ignoring him.

"Help!" The child threw fists at the creature, it didn't even flinch as it hacked away. It sounded like it was trying to burst into a door.

"Run, Dobrik! Run!" A male voice came from behind the door.

"Pa!" The child cried with all of his might while assaulting the creature.

Araya rushed to their help. She quickly pulled the child away with one hand and the other encased the creature into a powerful barrier and raised it in the air. It flayed and slashed at the barrier but it could not penetrate it even with its sword like claws.

"Princess!" The boy called. She didn't have time to give him her full attention as she concentrated on keeping the creature encased.

It was something that could have come from the most inner depths of her nightmares. The humanoid silhouette deformed by the elongated members. It's shriek was muffled within the barrier, but still sinister as it's vertical mouth dislodged its strange jaw. Sharp teeth in rows covered the inside of the creature's cheeks. The slits that diagonally covered its torso, similar to that of a mron's neck, relaxed and contracted with breaths full of rage. Its skin was a dead white of a once vibrant pink skin and its sharp hands gradually blackened to the tips, shiny scales were catching the red moon's light.

"I got you!" Araya whispered. With one hand raised to the beast, she clutched her fist tight and the barrier shrunk instantly transforming the creature in a red paste. There was nothing left of the eight foot beast that was encased within a barrier the size of which fit in your palm.

Araya finally let her breath go once immediate danger had been dealt with.

"PA!" The child pulled away from Araya and ran towards the broken down door. A stout man forced it open and embraced his son with tears in his eyes.

"It got Ma, Dobrik." The man said with a pained voice.

"No! No!" The child began to cry uncontrollably.

"Thank you, m'am. We owe you our lives." The man said, his big hands still wrapped around his son. "Emperor Ryel, please forgive us if we have done anything to anger you." the man whispered.

Araya gave him a glance over confused at what he said but paid little mind to it. She looked for wounds, he had a few scrapes but nothing fatal and gave a curt nod to the man. "What is the shortest route to the butcher's shop?" she asked.

"That way," The man pointed through another alley. "Taket the first right turn, across the street, there's a small leatherworker's, take another right after and then straight ahead."

Araya committed the directions to memory and began to run as fast as she could without saying another word.

People were screaming and running everywhere she could see. The alley the man pointed her to opened into the main street. Two creatures ran in tandem towards the crowd and she took immediate action. She saw two guards trying to slash at the creature in vain. The steel did not break their skin. The two monsters batted at them with sharp claws killing them in one fell swoop.

"If normal blades won't work," She said, rushing towards the creatures. She threw a barrier to protect the people to her left that were too slow and formed two blades of energy and vibrated them at incredible speeds, they hummed harmoniously through the air as she threw them at her opponents. The creatures seemed to look straight through Araya, ignoring her presence and going for the denizens she was trying to protect. The blades cut like butter through their featureless heads, dropping to the ground in mid jump. Their skin looked burned and reformed, with deep scarring, shiny and uneven.

"Get out of here! Now!" She ordered and continued her way. She quickly spotted the leatherworker's and followed the directions the man gave.

The crowd had thinned and she was able to break into a speedy run. In no time she spotted the Butcher shop's sign. It was one of the buildings that was ablaze. A few Wielders from the guard were struggling to put down the fires, so she rushed to help.

"You two! Focus on the creatures. Leave this to me." She said and sent her Fios across the several buildings that blazed in a scorching inferno. A creature strayed from nowhere, chasing a poor soul screaming in terror.

"Yes, M'am!" The two Wielders rushed to his aid. Again it ignored the two, focusing on its target. One of them had encased its legs in ice halting it to a break and the other sent every spell he knew toads the creature. It was barely taking damage, but at least they were slowing it down.

They gave Araya enough time to stifle the flames taking their energy and gathering it into her palm in a blazing white sphere.

"Get back!" Araya warned but they moved too slow, she didn't have time to wait for everyone to run so she gently sent force blasts pushing them away and sent the ball of energy towards the creature. Immediately after impact she encased it into another barrier to contain the blast. It didn't last long, and a few seconds after the barrier fell leaving only the ash behind. "You two! Focus on evaluating the people!"

"Yes, m'am!" One of the Wielders said while the other frowned.

"I don't want to put me neck out for trash." He said beneath his breath, thinking that only his friend heard him but Araya heard him very well. She was disgusted with the man, regardless of how much she wanted to punch him to his senses she had to rush and broke into a run.

Araya went behind the Butcher's shop and found the way her informant described. Everyone had already evacuated this area and she was all alone as she went down the stairs that went down into the cliff's stone. Each step was a gamble on the warn stone, her footing unstable she clutched at the right wall, her left being exposed to open air of a few thousand foot drop straight down.

The red sister bloodied the water below. As she moved forward down the stairs Araya heard whispers, she slowed down her pace to not give away her position as she arrived at the end of the perilous stone stairs. They gave way to a terrace in the face of the cliff. Araya peaked through and saw three men dressed in the Order's garb guarding a stone doorway that was darkened by shadows.

"I still don't think any of this is right. Creators surely don't side with those monsters" One of them said.

"Shut your trap or all of us will kick it." Another man warned through clenched teeth.

"Cornelius has proof -" The last one added letting Araya know that she was in the right place. She didn't let them say another word and sent a blade of force right at their necks dropping two out of three. The man still standing took a moment to register what had happened, but she didn't give him enough time to react to her attack. He was stronger than the other two and posed a real threat if he was able to withstand her attack. Unlucky for him he was covered from three sides with stone. Araia clenched her fist and stone spike penetrated his barrier, allowing her to wrap energy around him and throwing him over the cliff. He screamed as he fell down until he was swallowed by the waves.

She kept quiet and pushed through the doorway. It was damp, dark, and smelled of mold. She conjured a small ball of fire and kept it low next to her feet so she could see where she walked. She rushed the moment the lights were out and communication came through from the guards and regretted that she did not think to grab a few lightstones on her way.

Slowly descending on the crudely chipped stone stairs, light shone through solid bars of metal that closed off the area beyond. Araya instead of even trying the metal door she silently cut through a few metal bars and levitated them gently on the ground and pushed through.

The stench hit her hard. The sweet smell of decaying flesh and feces was very pungent the moment you crossed the threshold of the room.

Instead of bare rock the walls were old black bricks shoddily stacked, the area elongated into a corridor with metal doors across each side of the wall.

Araya advanced carefully, gradually the wretched smell intensified, she was struggling not to puke regardless how much she tried to purify the stagnant air around her.

Groans and moans, as well as stomach growls could be heard behind the metal doors on the sides, while behind the one at the end of the corridor there were muffled cries of a woman. She leaned in, listening closely and hear heart stopped when the woman cried again.

"Lwora!" she gasped. Without a second thought she ripped the door right out of the brick wall and flung it back. Her rage was blazing in her bosom.

The room was dimly lit, with a sole window at the very back. The room smelled even worse than the corridor. Cornelius and two Order Wielders stood frozen as they looked in horror at Araya. One of the men held Lwora's upright while the other pressed a bonding stone to her chest. Lwora moaned and cried in pain.

"Get her!" Cornelius screamed as he ran to the back, in a dark corner and began messing with a thick chain.

"I will kill all of you!" She screamed as the two men dropped Lwora with a thud on the stone cold floor. Her eyes were murderous, deflecting their weak spells with a flick of her hand. She wanted them to feel pain, and just like the creature she encased them in a barrier and squeezed them in the blink of an eye to a red spheres the size of her fist. They dropped with a sickening squelch to the ground.

"No! Have mercy!" Cornelius screamed. "Everything I have done was in the name of the Creators!" He fumbled with the thick chain until an empty clank resounded throughout the room. Cornelius relaxed and breathed in relief as he fell on his ass the moment the chained tugged away from him. "This is what you deserve, you bitch!" The head of the Order began to laugh.

Out of the dark corner of the room another creature threaded forward, it's massive sharp hands slapped the stone floor with great force. Into the dim light came another creature, similar to those outside, but this one stood more than twelve feet, even crouched until it reached the tall ceiling. A true chuffing was released from it's torso as the slits inhaled Araya's scent. The reverberating sound penetrated Araya's marrow. It's intent was only to kill.

Unlike the others this creature had smooth skin, pure white from the tip of it's head to its very sharp claws.

Araya felt the raw power the creature emanated and quickly shielded herself and braced for impact as it rushed towards her slashing and thrusting its claws straight into her barrier. She took the full brunt of the attack and her shield wavered slightly.

"That's right, you disgusting beast. Kill that slut." Cornelius said, hiding behind a few crates.

Araya ignored him and focused on the creature. Another attack and her shield would definitely be compromised, the tight spaces of the room didn't allow her to Wielder her full power. She took time to make herself aware of Lwora's body on the floor and throwing a shoddy barrier her way.

With fine skill she maneuvered around the creature's attack using force blasts to dodge and distance herself as much as she could. The creature's sharp claws dug into the stone with ease.

The moment she got a few feet away from the creature's range, she placed herself between Lwora and her opponent minimizing the risk of hurting her, and prepared her attack as the white monster rushed towards her.

Araya released a flurry of vibrating force blades that hacked away chunks of meat from the creatures merely slowing it down. Its attack weakened enough for her shield to hold against it, Araya feeding it energy while it made contact.

Lwora whimpered scared on the floor, her clothes were ripped and shredded exposing her naked dirty body.

"Ry." she said, her voice barely registering.

"I got you, Lwora. I got you!" Araya screamed, her teeth showing. Raged burned through her as her friend cried on the ground. She had to end this in one shot. Araya raised her hand to the creature as it prepared another tackle. She sliced at its hind members making it fall to the ground clumsily, flailing its hands everywhere. She quickly encased it into a barrier, directing the energy from her own to trap it. Her eyes were in deep focus, as her hand twisted in the air she whispered. "Subzero."

In an instant the creature froze fully with a chink that echoed through the room. She released the barrier and intense cold spread out from its dead body. It fell to the ground shattering into millions of pieces.

"No! NO IT CAN'T BE!" Cornelius screamed rushing to the door, but it was futile. His feet paddled the air in vain as Araya levitated the man and brought him towards her.

"Cornelius Hugart, you scheming evil little maggot, by the power invested in me by Emperor Ryel," she began and pulled the order from one of her inside pockets of her robe, unfurling the scroll in front of him. "You are declared a traitor of the Empire, plotting against your rightful ruler and supreme commander of all armies, you are to be removed from your position and sentenced to death."

"No! No! I beg you. Araya, beautiful Araya, I can tell you everything. Every little secret. Yes! I can! Please spare me." The man whined as tears fell from his chubby cheeks and is face was turned purple.

"It's Imperial Advisor GrandMaster Araya, to you, filth!" She spat. "Where is Ameral?"

"C-Councilman Ameral had departed for Elo'yn more than a fortnight ago, Imperial Advisor GrandMaster Araya." He replied meekly.

"Elo..." Araya was taken aback by this news. "Why?!" She screamed. "What business does Ameral have with Elo'yn?"

"H-his son! He went to visit his son that studies at the local Academy!"

"Lies! That man would rather lose his own foot than travel so long just to visit a son he despises! Tell me the truth you insignificant little man!" She insisted.

"Fine! But please spare me! I was just a pawn, a mindless pawn! The man cried like a child. "H-his sp-spies f-found out that Emp-Emperor Ryel is interested in E-Elo'yn's Academy. This sent A-ameral in a panic. He's doing shady bu-business with someone from Elo'yn.'' The man managed two say between whimpers, he could hardly breathe through his sobbing.

"What business? Don't make me pull every detail out, you worthless scum!" Araya warned.

Cornelius flinched and nodded frantically. "Yes! Yes! A-about these creatures." he cocked his head towards the fragmented frozen body on the floor. "Th-that's a Neva, a real one. Not like the ones outside."

"It can't be! They went extinct years ago!" Araya was shocked. "It looks very different from the Neva I've seen."

"It's a new a-awakening. T-that's what Ameral says. The m-man he's been dealing with managed to d-duplicate it somehow.

"What does Ameral want with these creatures?" She continued her interrogation. This was bigger than she had thought. These creatures were strong that two Royal guard wielders could not bring one down.

"This!" He pointed upward. "Chaos. He wants the people, the people that matter, to hate Ryel. Before the attack my men repeated that it was under Emperor Ryel's orders then released the beasts. We made sure everyone knew, especially the Wielders among them. They were the only ones that would survive this massacre."

"Why only them, I saw plenty of people escape through the gates."

"I'm certain that most were Wielders." Cornelius began to calm down. His hopes of coming out alive out of this increased the more he talked, the more Araya seemed to want to listen and so he continued talking. "The creatures are made to sniff out the unblessed and kill only them. Only the original ones can attack Wielders and as far as I know Ameral controls the creatures, Araya. I don't know how he does it or where he found them, but he has more like this one. And they listen to him."

Araya bit her lip. This was important information, she needed the man to tell her as much as he knew. "Why did he send his son to Elo'yn?" Her eyes washed over the pathetic excuse for a man. "Answer me!" she boomed.

"He'll have my head! Araya! Please!" He begged.

"I will kill you here on the spot if you do not answer!"

"Very well, just don't hurt me!" He begged again, his eyes locking onto hers but he saw only disgust in her face. "When Ameral found out about Ryel's interest in Elo'yn he sent his most trusted and loyal man to the Academy to make sure there was no one was snooping around but it didn't look like anyone suspected anything. That was- " Cornelius caught himself and placed his hands over his mouth.

"I will end you here and now in the most painful way I can think of if you don't spill everything."

"Ameral believes that this boy is Ryel's illegitimate son, if he gets recognized by Ryel his efforts to come to power will be undone This massacre will give him enough reason to kill Ryel in the name of justice for the people of the Empire and be regarded as a hero. And with Ryel out of the picture, he is the next in line. No one would bat an eye at his coming to power, even if he doesn't share the same blood as Ryel. But with this brat in the way, no one would accept someone of non-royal blood on the throne, even if he's Ryel's cousin.

"And what is Ameral really doing in Elo'yn?"

"Even if he has his most loyal man spying on his every move he wanted to see the boy with his own two eyes, to confirm if his suspicions were true or not before killing him."

"I see." Araya said calmly, taking everything the man had said in, there was a chance he was lying through his teeth, but there was something about his pathetic demeanor that told her that this man was trying desperately to stay alive. He had no inkling with what powers he was playing, what the boy really was, but he posed a great danger to her own plans which involved Ryel achieving his goals. "That's all I need, Cornelius. Creators may not have mercy on your soul everlasting." She said and readied a blow but Cornelius had been preparing his own attack meanwhile. He quickly went to stretch an arm and shoot his attack towards Lwora that was still sprawled on the floor but Araya was too quick for him. With little effort she twisted his arm at the elbow in the opposite way canceling his spell. He cried in pain, holding his arm he sobbed and cried like a toddler.

"No, please! Spare m-" He didn't get to finish his sentence before his head dropped to the floor. A clean line had severed it from the neck.

"Enough." Araya turned to Lwora and checked her vitals. This had gone longer than she intended, but she was glad she squeezed all the information she could out of him. "Lwora, sweetheart. Can you hear me?" She gently stroked her cheek. Lwora's eyes fluttered open and smiled the moment she saw Araya's face.

"Ry, you came." she said weakly.

"Of course I came, always." She hugged her limp body. Lwora had no strength to do anything. "Hold on tight, I'll heal you all brand new. You'll see." She began concentrating all of her remaining energy within Lwora searching for damage and repairing everything she could find. Araya could feel her grow stronger in her arms.

"I didn't let them see anything, Ry. It's safe." Lwora smiled as she nestled her face in Araya's hair. "Smells nice." she said and closed her eyes enjoying the moment the pain had stopped. "The revolution is safe, Ry." Those were her last words before she fell into a deep sleep. Her wounds were all healed but she had suffered much mental trauma. Araya was uncertain that she could heal those wounds for Lwora.

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."