The Endless Battle

[Hysteria]

Closed for Amber Eyes

The day was early and the sun had only just peaked over the buildings of Radsanath. The hustle and bustle of the city streets was just winding up with people setting up for the day to come, and cleaning up from the night before. Shop vendors swept the front of their stores, set up displays and opened their doors. Farmers and grocers transported their produce and haggled over prices.

The mighty Citadel sat calmly through the momentum. The lure of the fight was technically open all day and night, but the average fighter wasn’t up till midday and even then a headache from the night before tended to keep them in for a few more hours. While this wasn’t true for all seeking to test themselves, a lot waited until the Citadel was at its peak activity to ensure they fought only the best. At the moment there were only a few fights and one small boy standing on its steps.

Talen stood on the steps of the Citadel and looked up at the massive building. The small warrior had visited the place many times before to take part in its risk-free fights, but this time was different. An order from Sei Orlouge had sent the youth to infiltrate the mighty stone fortress and bring back information detailing the fights and the strength of the competitors.

The youth turned his head from the Citadel and looked around. The order was easier said than done, with monks practically swarming through most of the halls day and night. To make things easier Sei had assigned his niece, but Talen had never worked with the girl before and had his doubts on if Sei had made the right choice. Regardless of Talen’s feelings he and Kyla Orlouge had a duty as Captains in the Ixian Knights to carry out Sei’s orders.

Talen was a normal looking boy of thirteen with short, black hair, a pale complexion and simple black cloths. His simple, somewhat shabby appearance let the youth get into places he normally couldn’t. Of course he needed to be careful, the two swords he carried tended to draw attention, so he kept the pair hidden under his cloak to avoid attention with a few other miscellaneous items.

[Amber Eyes]

Kyla Orlouge quickly made her way toward the massive citadel. Sei's orders were pretty clear, she was to meet up with Talen outside the Citadel. The young boy was apparently perfect for sneaking into places because people just did not take notice of him. Luckily Kyla herself came across a few years younger most of the time, so the two should be able to pull of a brother/sister scheme pretty well. She noticed that the Citadel seemed empty this time of day and immediately decided that would not be to their advantage.

Two kids could easily get lost in the hustle and bustle of a tournament or a particularly busy afternoon, but a lack of competitors meant more people would be keeping an eye on the few who did enter. Kyla noticed the young boy at the top of the stairs waiting for her and after a quick greeting she pulled him aside. The two shared a few brief exchange before they seemed to agree and entered the door. To any onlooker they would hopefully appear to have simply gotten separated a bit earlier and met up here. They approached a monk and Kyla smiled her widest smile.

"We'd like to have a room for a fight. Nothing fancy, just a basic setup."

The monk looked both of them over and raised an eyebrow.

"Well," Kyla said quickly, "Mom said that if we were goin' ta kill each other we may as well do it somewhere that the loser can come back. Apparently we've been a bit much to handle this mornin'." Kyla laughed, and soon the monk smiled too.

"I can imagine. Alright you two, a basic room it is, straight down this hall and the third room to the left."

Kyla raised her eyebrows as the two walked down the hallway, as soon as they were out of earshot she stole a look at Talen. "Well, that went well, now what?"

[Hysteria]

“We do the same thing we do every night… try and take over the world!”

The youth shot Kyl a cheeky grin as the pair walked through the stone corridor. Their foot falls echoed through the hall, with another pair joining them soon after. A monk walked down the corridor in the opposite direction and barely glanced at the pair as he past. Talen didn’t bother to look at the man, instead focusing on the corridor ahead. The assigned room came up as another monk walked past, this time a women.

Talen’s studied the girl for a second, her flowing simple robes hid her body, but her face was an open book. The girl was young, perhaps a novice of the order. Like most of her brethren; she had simple hair and not a trace of makeup. The youth privately thanked the progressive hiring of the order and stepped in font of her.

“Hi. What’s your name?” Said Talen.

The girl stopped and looked at Talen and Kyla; surprise flashing across her face.

“Uh, Jess.” The woman said it quickly without realising, “Can I help you?”

“My sister and I were arguing. I think that there is a record of the fights that go on here. That’s what my friend John said, but she says that would be a waste of time. I reckon I’d like to see how my Dad fights went though. Can you tell us where the records are kept?” Talen let the child-like words flow from his lips in easy lies.

The female monk looked a little startled at the question, but recovered quickly.

“There aren’t ant records sorry. I’m sure your dad can tell you how he went though.”

“He’s dead” Replied the youth, a look of pain crossing his face, “Thankyou anyway.”

Talen looked depressed as he walked away from the monk to Kyla. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black book and opened it as the woman slowly walked away. As soon as they were alone he opened the book. Talen smiled and held the book up for Kyla to read.


Jess Abrech~
That poor kid. I wish I could have told him about the hall of records, but its restricted. The whole third floor is. Even if he knew the order would never allow anyone to go in. Plus then there’s the record keeper… that thing is scary.

The youth flicked the book closed and slid it back into his pocket. This was not the first time Talen had used the book to gain inside information into what a woman was thinking. The last time had been on one of their fellow Ixian Knights Cassanda Remi. It had taken a week for the nightmares to stop.

“I guess the next thing would be to find some stairs and go to level three?”

[Amber Eyes]

The girl nodded in agreement with the faux child, and the two quickly began to make their way through the halls. Of course, with it being the Citadel, infiltrating and making it to a third floor was a lot easier said than done. There was an endless amount of rooms, and from looking at Talen's body, Kyla could tell that the shadow puppeteer was getting tired.

Think Kyla, think! You're supposed to be the leader of the Investigations team, and you can't even find a flight of stairs in a building that looks like a fancier version of the Tomb?! Wait a minute....I'm a genius!

The Mystic girl quickly grabbed Talen's hand and began running through the halls, zigging and zagging throughout the Citadel. Talen opened his mouth, prepared to ask Kyla about this new burst of energy, but the girl quickly cut him off.

"It's halls, the doors! It's built like the Tomb! And if I know Sei, I know he would put a flight of stairs in the most ridiculous of places! I'm sure he'd say it's for strategic purposes, but I know it's because he just likes over complicating things!" Kyla giggled as she let the wind she was creating whip through her face. Even though she was nearly carrying Talen by the arm, she did not care at the moment.

After about a few right turns, a couple of left, and going around three sides of one room, Kyla and her accomplice managed to find a door with a glass top. Labeled in big black letters was 'Emergency Stairs'. Talen looked to Kyla, who shrugged with a smile on her face.

"So they're the emergency stairs, I still found them! Now come on!"

[Hysteria]

Talen breathed heavily and looked at Kyla hopelessly.

“Sister, you’re excitable for sure.”

The pair walked up the stairs, two floors to the level three. The simple stone staircase hid a most sinister protection than the pair realised and as they made it to the third floor door a clink came from below them. A suit of armour walked up the stairs slowly, wielding a large long sword.

“Oh, hey.” Said Talen looked to Kyla, “We are lost.”

The suit didn’t even pause as it turned the corner and continued its slow assent towards them. Talen got a sinking feeling as he fumbled with the handle and pulled open the door. The staircase opened onto a long corridor lined with suits of armour the same as the one that was coming up the stairs. The first two turned their helmets and appeared to stare at them.

Talen lifted his hand and pointed it towards the approaching suit. Shadows leapt to his hand forming a growing orb of shadows. The ball shrank, condensing into a thick liquid as the boy lowered his hand towards the steps. With the aim of much practice the liquid shot out and sprayed across the step in front of the armour. It took a step, then finding a severe lack of friction, toppled over. The armours helmet tumbled off, showing Talen what he had though; it was an animated rather than a real person.

The youth reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette case. As he removed the single cigarette he turned to Kyla.

“Looks like we might need to be quick to get through that hall Big Sister.”

The suit on the stairs started to push itself back to its feet as Talen lit his cigarette with the device on his wrist.

“Before you say it, it’s not a real cigarette. It’s a compound of plants that increases my speed. Harmless long term.”

[Amber Eyes]

Watching Talen take out the cigarette and start puffing away took the girl a little bit by surprise. Even though she new Talen wasn't exactly what he appeared to be it was a bit strange to watch a child smoking. She resisted the urge to be motherly and instead focused on the current predicament. As she watched the suit of armor slowly make its way back to its feet, she looked down to Talen. She did not want to leave the citadel with blood on her hands. A hundred thoughts ran through her mind. After all, she couldn't hurt these innocent...

....people.

Kyla froze for a moment with a smile. There was nothing in the suits, no humans to have their blood spilt. There was nobody to run and warn the monks. Her smile grew wider as she crouched slowly.

She formed her shadow sword in one hand, and popped out the claws for Sophia's Mane with the other. She turned, running down the hall with an even more energetic speed. Any time she saw a suit of armor, she knocked it down, usually leaping at it and knocking it over, the results usually being some dismantled pieces of armor strewn about the floor. The crashes were satisfying each and everytime they rang through the air. Kyla had not expected to have fun on this particular mission, but what was not fun about beating up ghost knights?

"Come on Talen," Kyla said with a giggle, running to the next set of armor. "I bet I can knock more of these suits down than you!"

The girl was having so much fun, she had not even realized the door that was just a few feet away, labeled 'Battle Records' on the glass pane...