Memories and Explanations

The memories of King and the way that the beginning of the end started.

 

                                The wind blew, an uncaring constant, in the ever changing tide of battle. It touched on the bodies of hundreds, frozen faces staring with their last emotion to the ageless spirits, life leaching from the corpses in a river of red. A red sun stared apathetic to the dead and dying that it saw under its endless gaze. Clouds blew past, a dark gray, preparing to release a wave of rain to wash away the stains of blood on the abandoned field of battle.

                                Two figures stood several meters away from a pile of bodies, noses crunched up from the stench wafting by. One of figures, a woman, sighed as she pushed several stray pieces of ebony hair from her face. Her eyes, a green so deep they were almost black, closed as she wiped sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. She turned abruptly; green Chinese dress swirling, and pulled the enormous sword that was stuck in the ground next to her out of the earth. With a small grunt of effort, she lugged the sword, if it could be called that, onto her shoulder, shifting her back so that it fell into a more comfortable position. She sighed, silently this time, and turned to face her companion.

                                Face giving away nothing, she began to speak. “I see you managed to get into trouble again King.” Her voice was a flat monotone and held no admonishment, only indifference.

                                The other figure chuckled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his neck, dislodging some of the quickly drying blood. King was covered in blood, some of it his, but the majority of it was from the now corpses that surrounded the two. “Actually, it’s a funny story Xia.” He began, chuckling in the hopes that she wouldn’t be mad at him. Xia simply shook her head and sighed again.

                                “I don’t want to hear it. I came to talk to you about the war that’s going on right now. Why are you still going on with it? Your empire easily out powers the other two.” This time as she talked, her voice held a trace amount of curiosity.

                                At once King became serious, his face showing a concentration that made his visage intimidating. Despite the fact that she knew she was powerful, Xia couldn’t help but be a little frightened at the type of power King held at his command. The Puppet King they called him, for his fearsome control of puppets and his ability to break into the mind of almost any creature and turn them into his puppet. He was particularly infamous for the rumors of a creature wielding puppets killing an entire race of Maskers, shape shifting creatures, for insulting his clan. There had been many clans that claimed they produced the creature that did the notorious task, but when asked to produce the creature, none could do it. Xia personally thought that it was King, but was confused as the legend was almost 25,000 years old, but yet King claimed to be only 5,000. King and Xia eventually shook themselves out of their respective thoughts and King began to speak.

                                “This war has been going on for so long only because we Demons have been prohibited by the Angels from deploying the army and alerting humans to our existence.” Ah, that made sense to Xia. The strength of Demons lay particularly in the awesome might of their armies, but if they couldn’t deploy them, then they would have to rely on a combination of assassins and hunters. Assassins and hunters were almost the same, but hunters just took care of creatures, usually rogues, instead of whoever the empire told them too.

                                “But thankfully, we’ve been able to push back and start destroying both the Vampire and Lycan empires. Soon this entire war will be over, and we’ll be able to go back to the ethereal plane.” King’s voice was filled with longing as he spoke of the ethereal plane, his birthplace and the place that he had spent much of his childhood. Xia understood his sentiment;, she couldn’t imagine what it would be like if she could never return to the ethereal plane and to her brother, Jester.

                                “Well just now old friend, the Fae will always be your allies.” Xia grasped his hand at the wrist, a sign of trust and the friendship that they had shared through the centuries. King looked at her face, and saw the determination and truth in her eyes and returned the grasp just as hard.

                                “Thank you my friend.” His voice was soft and filled with gratitude at Xia for the great gift she had just given him. The vow of alliance between Demon and Fae would now last for several millennia at least, and it was a wonderful gift for the Demon empire as they were in the middle of a war and the Fae manipulate great power in magyks they controlled.

                                “And now, onto other matters, how do you intend to end the war?” Xia looked over at King as she asked the question.

                                “Have you heard about the one they call The Rogue?” King looked at the sky as he responded to Xia’s inquiry.

                                “I have heard several things, not the least of which is that he is a sadist of the highest order, and that he kills for pleasure. Besides for that, I know not much.” Xia shrugged as she finished answering, wondering where King was going with this.

                                “I intend to use the Rogue as a way to battle both the Lycans and the Vampires, as he is part of both.”

                                “What?!” Xia stared at King in shock; there was no way that there was a half breed of Lycan and Vampire. The two races hated eat other with a passion!

                                “Yes,” King nodded, his face completely serious. “Red, what he prefers to be called, was born to the Vosh family.”

                                “The royal Vampire family had a half breed?!” Xia was in total disbelief, if such a boy was born to the Vosh’s they would have killed him immediately.

                                “No, he was born a Vampire. When he was but a young boy he was kidnapped by Lycan warriors and taken back to Sicth, the Lycan capital. Once there, Lycan blood was injected into his veins in the hope that it would kill him, and that they would be able to frame the Demons. Their hope was that the Vampires, in their search for revenge, would deploy their armies and expose creature to humans. However, the plan went awry when Red’s body, instead of rejecting the blood, adapted it to him, creating a half breed. The resulting energy almost destroyed Sicth, and only because they build their buildings to withstand great force was anything still standing. Red escaped and ran back to Invict, the Vampire capital, only to be rejected by his once-family now that he was a half-breed. He ran to a human city and survived by stealing from the unsuspecting. He eventually became what he is today, a serial killer who’s addicted to the rush of killing.” King finished with a sigh, feeling real sorrow for the life that Red had to lead.

                                “… How did you find this out?” Xia’s voice was back to it’s normal monotone, signaling that she was going over everything in her mind.

                                “The Demon Empire has many experienced spies, no?” King’s eyes were dancing with amusement as Xia blushed, having forgotten temporarily about them. Xia eventually coughed as she finally got her blush under control.

                                “Well King, it seems that I have dawdled too long.” Xia stated as she looked at the setting sun; they had started this conversation when the sun was still fairly high in the sky. “I must get back to Jester”

                                “Yes, how is the future heir of the Fae throne?” King’s voice was filled with curiosity.

                                Xia’s eyes softened as she thought about her little brother. “He is doing fine; I know that he will make a wonderful leader some day. He grows a little more each day, both in body and mind. His Magyk also grows in leaps and bounds. If I’m not careful, he may grow more powerful than me.” Xia’s eyes and voice were filled with amusement at the thought. Her wings, eight in all and all dragonfly like, buzzed at the thought of her brother, another sign of her happiness.

                                “I wish you and your brother happiness in all you do.” King smiled at Xia as he spoke truly touched by the love that she held for her brother.

                                “Thank you my friend, but I really must be going now.” Xia turned to leave, her wings vibrating as they readied for flight, when a cry came from above. The cry was high pitched, and sounded almost like an eagle’s or hawks, a battle cry. “What devilry is this?!” Xia spoke in a forceful voice, but didn’t shout.

                                Suddenly, five shapes detached themselves from the clouds above, and it became clear to King and Xia that an ambush by Lycans was beginning to take place. Xia swung out Myorin, her sword of enormous proportions, and took a stance of battle-readiness. King’s hands flew in a blur as they began to carve runes in the air at an awesome speed. His voice joined the runes after a second as he chanted the words for a summoning spell. A moment later a human sized bundle appeared along with a katana of average length. King grabbed the katana, called Hyotomari, and he chanted for a second more, and watched as the bundle unraveled itself to reveal a puppet in the shape of a human. The only difference was that instead of normal hands and feet the puppet had claws, at least six inches long.

                                King and Xia stood back to back as they readied their respective weapons. Abruptly King smirked at Xia, showing off a pair of enlarged canines that looked wicked sharp and deadly. “Just like old times, eh?” Xia looked back at him and smirked as well, shifting Myorin into a different position as King did the same to Hyotomari. Out of the surrounding trees, fifteen ground-based Lycans surrounded King and Xia, as the five flying ones circled above. King’s smirk turned into a full-blown grin as soon as the Lycans all came out and his eyes glinted golden with bloodlust. “Pray to the gods for mercy, because you’ll find none hear!” As King’s shouted words floated over the almost abandoned battle field, the corpses of a Vampire battle squad were witness to the carnage to come. At King’s words, Xia shot off into the air and began her assault.

                                “Alright, let’s go, Myorin! Flame Barrage!” Xia still didn’t yell, but her voice struck terror into her opponents as Myorin glowed a hell-fire red before releasing a burst of fire. The fire shaped into varies beasts and flew off to combat the five flying Lycans.

                                Down below, the fifteen Lycans stared in horror as their comrades were dispatched by the flaming beasts. However, the spell was broken when King’s voice broke over them. “Hey, you guys should be watching your own opponent, not someone else’s.” King smirked. “After all, you never know when yours might attack!” With the last word King rushed forward, his speed out gunning anything that these Lycans had ever seen. “Here we go, Hyotomari! Frozen Fragments!”  With this shout he struck terror into the hearts of his opponents and as Hyotomari glowed a frozen blue, he slashed across. The light fragmented off the blade and formed into chips of ice, spreading across the field at tremendous speed. The Lycans could barely react before the ice had reached them and skewed them through. One of them coughed up blood before falling over an ice fragment piercing through his heart. The ice splinters began to melt, water running with blood as the Lycans tried desperately to keep their life from running between their fingers. One by one they all began to fall, their lives ending on this lonely battle field.

                                “Well that was disappointing; I didn’t even have to use my puppet.” King pouted as he dismissed the puppet with a couple runes. Xia lighted down next to King, her wings moving up and down lazily now that they weren’t being used anymore. She looked around at the carnage they had caused and tensed as she spotted something moving towards them at a worrying speed. She nudged King in the ribs and pointed wordlessly at the person running towards them. King simply smirked as he put Hyotomari on his shoulder, his nose twitching as he picked up the scent of the person heading towards them. When Xia looked questioningly at him he simply grinned and spoke a single word. “Mint.”

                                Xia’s eyes widened as she looked at the incoming person. So she was going to meet the mysterious assassin Mint. King raised a hand in greeting as the person stopped in front of the two. The figure was wearing a brown cloak, bunched around the shoulders so that when it fell it covered the entire body of the person. The person was wearing a mask with three blue marks on the right cheek, and blue circles barely visible on the temples, despite the fact that the blue stood out against the dark gray of the rest of the mask. Two slits were present were the eyes would be on a normal person, and a cold red light shone out of the left slit while the other had a barely visible tint of dark blue. Mint nodded to King and looked at Xia for a moment. Xia stood up tall and proud under the scrutiny, and after a couple seconds the figure nodded to her as well.

                                King grinned and decided to break the ice. “Hiya Mint! Well, Mint, meet Xia, the guardian of the heir to the Fae throne. Xia, meet Mint, my personal bodyguard, not that I need one, and one of the best assassins in the entire Demon Empire.” King cheerfully introduced the two to each other, and grinned cheekily when they both glared at him and nodded to each other. “So, what brings you here?”

                                “I have some news.”  Mint’s voice was metallic sounding due to the mask in the way of her voice. “The Rogue seems to have been captured by some of the Vampire battle squads that are roaming around.” King and Xia were both shocked, wasn’t Red supposed to be one of the most powerful creatures out there? “He wasn’t captured until five battle squads came at him at once, and even then, they lost the majority of their men.” Mint looked at them in a way that implied that she was smirking.

                                King chuckled. “So were is he being held. If he was captured then we need to help him escape, after all, we do want his help to win this war.”  King looked at Mint, hoping that she knew where Red was being held.

                                Mint shook her head. “There’s no way you could get him out of the place where they’re holding him. All I know is that it’s a mental hospital in America, one that’s being controlled from the shadows by the Vampire Empire.”

                                “So it seems that despite the fact that he’s a half-breed, the Empress can’t bring herself to kill her little brother.” King contemplated.

                                “Why can’t we get him out of there Mint?” Xia asked.

                                “The empire has that place crawling with Vampires. If anyone but someone who can suppress their creature aura completely went in there, they would be killed before they could do anything. “Mint shook her head again. “It’s impossible, even for someone like me. My advice, dispatch a spy who can completely suppress their aura and have them help the Rogue as much as they can. Besides that, there’s nothing you can do.” The Demon tongue sounded strange coming from Mint, for the metallic accent distorted it and made it even more intimidating. Xia was suddenly very glad that she had asked King to teach her how to understand the Demon language several centuries ago.

                                King looked down put that there was nothing he could do to help Red get out of the cage that he was being put in. Finally he sighed and looked up with determination in his eyes. “Very well. Mint, I want you to get to the capital and tell Aaron that I want him to be in that hospital in the next couple days, even if someone has to die for it to happen.” King looked unhappy that a human would probably have to die but knew that this is what had to happen if he wanted to help Red. He nodded and dismissed Mint with a wave of his hand. Mint bowed to King and then nodded to Xia, who nodded back. Mint seemed to just stand there for a second, but both King and Xia could feel the energy that starting to collect, so neither were surprised when mist started to surround Mint. A moment later the mist cleared and Mint was gone without a trace.

                                “So, I guess this is like the beginning of the end, right?” Xia’s voice was in monotone, but if you listened close enough you could hear a minute tremble. King nodded and began to walk away. As he was several meters away Xia spoke again. “King!”

                                King stopped where he was but didn’t turn around. “Yeah?”

                                Xia turned away so that he wouldn’t see the blush that had covered part of her face. “Don’t get killed, okay?” Xia’s voice was filled with conviction and a certain tone of sternness. “’Cause if you did, I’d kill you myself!”

                                King stayed still for a second, before he turned his head and grinned over his shoulder. “Will do General Phonya!” His eyes glinted with a child like joy at annoying his life long friend.

                                Xia snorted. “Insolent b*****d.” She grumbled. “See ya’ later, King.” Xia turned and, spreading her wings, Xia Phonya jumped up and began to fly away from the battle field.

                                King grinned and turned to look at the horizon, where the last parts of the sun where disappearing. Slowly his grin dropped and his eyes took on a solemn look. “Lots of things are going to be changing, I can feel it.” He gathered up his energy and was soon surrounded by a thick cloud of glittering gold dust. Soon it cleared and the battle field was devoid of life, left once more to the newly dead. The wind blew through and created ripples on a pool of blood, and the apathetic sun watched as the clouds finally opened their gates and flooded the forgotten battle field with a purifying rain.  

Reviews

[Isidora]

Good gods, did I not review this? I shall have to give myself a good kick in the butt after this...

I love this story so far, especially the intricacies of the different people (and species/kingdoms) and how they interact. I don't know if you know this (probably not) but your writings are influencing my stories a great deal; they make me think more about my own characters and how I can improve and be more descriptive.

Keep writing, and keep up the good work (I need my muse, after all)!

[a Messenger]

An interesting story line. Good write.

[Elemiah]

I still love your writings...and I don't know why, but I really liked the line 'What devilry is this?!'. This was a good explanation chapter...It seems that everything is starting to come together and make sense...

The only thing I want to point out though, is that you have some homophone issues. 'Were' instead of 'where', 'hear' instead of 'here', etc. That's all I saw wrong, though.