IK vs PA (Round 2) Multi-Battle Outer Gates

[Enigmatic Immortal]

This battle begins at Midnight Monday evening!

The following match up is:

Amber Eyes vs Homunculus

[Enigmatic Immortal]

You have two weeks, GOOD LUCK!

[Amber Eyes]

Someone would die soon. It was in the air.
An act of ultimate betrayal was near, and in its midst stood Kyla Orlouge.
Sweet, silly, simple, stupid Kyla Orlouge.


Kyla pulled her long brown hair into a bun as she approached the castle’s outer gates; a few stubborn strands still tickled her cheeks as the wind softly blew. The sun warmed her skin and the smell of the flowers from the gardens filled her nostrils. A quick glance over her shoulder told her Draug was still following; Cassandra’s orders fresh in his mind no doubt. A stronger will would have demanded to make this voyage alone; there was no need for a chaperon. Kyla’s mind was clear; she would do whatever it took to keep her little boy safe. Draug no longer scared the mystic, he was as much a puppet to his mother as Kyla had always been to Sei, he would not harm her unless given permission.

Leaving Concordia without Akiv had been the hardest thing she could imagine, his little curls framing his face as he cried out “Mama.” Those bright blue eyes full of love despite her poor choices and all but abandoning him, she would not fail him again. She would complete her mission here and worry about her damned soul later.

In the distance the sound of birds chirping could be heard, proof that even when you reach your lowest point the universe continues. Without missing a step Kyla focused on a tree in the distance, forcing its branches to sway just enough to frighten the birds from their home. A neatly placed mystic bomb and they would all be gone.

It was becoming more and more apparent to the girl just how frail everything around her was. One twitch of a finger from the powerful, Sei Orlogue, Cassandra Remi, William Arcus, one twitch from any of them and the lesser mortals lives were shaken. How much longer would she be just a pawn in the game? How much longer before Kyla Orlouge became something other than a powerful tool to use and dispose of?

The girl kicked at a large rock on the ground, her foot connecting hard and sending the projectile flying at nothing in particular. Still as the landed with a soft thud the mystic imagined it burrowing into the earth, creating a crater that would swallow them all. Good and Evil alike, were the two really that different? To a person trying to make ends meet it mattered little who controlled the government, they were pawns just as much as she was.

As she approached the castle a rotund guard ran out to meet her, his expressions dour. His breathing was short and forced; his face red from the short jog, sweat pouring from beneath his shaggy blonde hair. “Miss Orlogue, thank Thaynes you’ve come. We believe there has been a breach, though it doesn’t seem to be a large force. Lord Orlouge has disappeared into the dungeons with Max Dirks and a member of the Pheonix Ascendant and we have been unable to reach him. We need orders and we don’t have many troops within the castle, we’re spread too thin.” The man stared at her, and Kyla’s stomach began to turn. She didn’t have time for this.

“Maintain the gates, I’ll find Sei and figure it out. Do not let another soul enter this courtyard, including that man behind me.” Her voice was forced, almost cold.

A quick nod was her only reply, the guard turning his attention to the strange man, his gun ready. It was obvious from the look in his eyes he was not ready for any sort of attack, but surely he could hold his own should something happen.

Kyla gave a quick look back at Draug, “Stay here, I need to figure out what’s going on in there.” She gave him a quick look over her shoulder, hoping he really was the mindless follower she believed him to be.

She began to run; kicking up dirt with the soles of her shoes so thick she could taste it. It settled in the back of her throat, only adding to the lump that was quickly forming at the base. She wasn’t supposed to find herself leading an army, she was here for one reason, Akiv needed her.

”Sei, I need to know what is going on. Who is in the confines and why?” She called out to the telepath as she made her way through the training grounds, running as fast as she could toward the tombs.

She made her way through the maze of the underground, determined to find Sei in the dungeons beyond. With each step she felt the walls closing in on her, she was running out of time. She could hear the dripping of water as she reached the old housing section, not pausing to look in at her old room as she did every other time she passed it. As she turned near the former cafeteria her attention was pulled away by the sound of a laugh down the hall. The dark dusty cavern walls echoed with the giddiness of the children, and Kyla’s mind settled on one thought. Azza Ambrose.

((Kyla moves from the outer gates to the tombs.))

[Abomination]

The opened gates were unremarkable, with the short tunnel leading in and the walls that surrounded them. Usually, many knights would sit perched upon the walls, but today was different. The castle was mostly unguarded, the bulk of the Ixian forces away for war. The only ones who were left were the most vulnerable, and sometimes, the most important. The mighty Sei Orlouge was an army by himself, but he was still suspect to the same emotions that plagued the rest of them.

It was interesting to be a being that mattered so much and yet so little. Cassandra's Son, they called him. Did they consider him to be someone of importance? Perhaps in one sense he was, but he did not feel that way. His only desire was to serve, and to that end he was merely a tool for his mother. He did not question her decision to accompany Kyla back here, but discerning the many reasons for doing so was difficult for the Homunculus to understand. He knew that he acted as a way to keep Kyla honest, but was not the hostage situation enough for that? It all depended on what Cassandra thought could happen if Kyla was left to her own devices, or moreover, if Sei was. That was why he was standing at the door to the lion's den, at the heart of the war. All that was there to stop him was one fat guard, who didn't quite know Draug's purpose. Surely the Ixians had heard of him by now, but he left few of them to tell the tale. Perhaps his shifting appearance was hard to remember, or Sei kept the information to himself. In any case...

Maybe Kyla should've learned by now that ulterior motives come as naturally to the Cult as torture.

Draug lunged out, causing the fat guard to fumble the grip of his weapon, his reaction far too late before the Homunculus dislodged it from his grip. Draug grabbed the guard by the neck, squeezing hard on the soft flesh. If there was a memorable way for him to kill people, this was it. The guard's eyes spoke to him, telling of confusion, pain, fear, and finally despair. The light in those eyes eventually faded, his body falling to the ground like a rag doll. Cassandra's champion took the flintlock gun.

He also helped himself to the fat guard's memories through assimilation, learning all he could of the castle's design. He knew much from his mother, but little of the latest workings. Satisfied, he turned his sights to the garden. Cassandra didn't trust Kyla to complete her mission, even with the threat of her child's head. Draug was insurance, and his blood link to his mother meant that if anything happened to him, she would know it. He was invincible here, and that meant he could take what he pleased. Before Kyla had a chance for any tricks, Draug would take Azza Ambrose himself. He made his way toward the garden.

((Draug moves from Outer Gates to Garden.))

[Silence Sei]

((Sei coming in from the Dungeon.))

Sei had taken his time to get to the outer gates, his footing not as secure as he would have liked for it to have been. The chirping of the birds around Concordia Forest put the Mystic’s mind to ease at least a little bit. It seemed as though there had been no attacks from Phoenix Ascendant as of yet. Victor Callahan had not seemed to be in the area either, which was another good sign. The mute scanned the two colossal wooden gates at the front of Ixian Castle, the entrance opened wide in case Taka returned soon with the rest of the army.

The Mystic’s eyes widened when his sights were set upon the corpse that lay just outside of the gates. A rather heavy set guard, one Sei had specifically assigned to guard duty due to his weight problem, lay mauled on the ground, flies and crows already picking at the fresh kill. Sei walked over to the body, kneeling down and clasping his hands for a moment. The mute made sure to say a prayer for the fallen regardless of whether he was responsible for their deaths of not. It was an honor-bound promise Sei had made to himself, to keep true to his roots, and he would be damned if his war got in the way of who he truly was.

As he said his silent prayer, a familiar smell wafted in the air, tickling Sei’s nostrils and causing his blue orbs to immediately shoot open. The smell of death, the smell of rotting body parts as they festered in the mid-day sun, the rancid air one carried around with them as their organs shut down from the inside. The body before him was killed too recently to start expelling such fumes, which seemed to dance their way through the gates Sei had just passed.

This was not the smell of the dead; it was the smell of death itself.

Draug, the despicable son of Cassandra Remi was here, back at Ixian Castle. Sei’s clasped hands trembled with anger, his nails buried deep into the flesh of his hands. Sapphire liquid flowed down his knuckles as he stood up. Draug had been responsible for Kyla’s disappearance, he had been responsible for killing one of Sei’s body guards during the ‘Night of Debauchery’, and now he was returning to Ixian Castle? No doubt he had used the ability Arden Janelle had told the Ixian Knights about; took the memories from his kill in order to figure out the schematics of the castle.

Luckily, this guard was not told much of Sei’s clever plan, just that the children would be divided up into groups. Even if Draug had stolen this man’s memories, he wouldn’t have intimate knowledge of any new defenses, or strategies. He would simply know the locations of the major groups.

He….knows where the kids are!

Sei jumped up, his feet hitting the ground hard and causing his still disoriented body to teeter-totter. He shook his head, an attempt to shake his sudden dizziness up, and turned back to the gates. Anita and Emma were in the garden, and while Draug would not have known about their disguises (the only ones with that information would have been Aimer, Sei, and the daughters themselves), simply being in the same area as two of his little girls frightened Sei to the point of almost vomiting.

You will not have another one, you son of a bitch!

Such vulgarity was usually beneath the mute, but Draug had endangered his family once again. Sei began to run for the gardens, attempting to balance himself out whenever he began to tilt one way or another. Draug would not touch Anita, Emma, or any of the children. He would not attack Aimer, or even have the chance to talk. Draug would only have the chance to do two things.

He would tell Sei Kyla’s location, and then he would die.

((Sei moves from Outer Gates to the Garden))

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor Callahan watched the whole scene from the safety of the nearby barracks building and wasn’t quite certain what to make of it all. The exit he had taken from the dungeons moments ago didn’t initially seem like one of his best decisions, not by a long shot, the last corridor leading him out of the darkness and into what looked like the most secure part of the castle. But instead of more Knights greeting him with swords in their hands and belligerence on their minds, the gunslinger found the barracks empty, the iron bar doors ajar. It would seem Sei emptied his castle in order to meet the Phoenix Ascendant on the field, or otherwise deployed his troops somewhere else other than home. All that greeted him as he pushed the screeching doors were empty beds with crumpled sheets and a smell of unwashed feet.

And this was the home the Ixian Knights. Even a thick-headed bum like Victor was able to piece that together from the images that Sei crammed into his skull just moments ago. The specifics still eluded him; the snapshots were all jumbled together like a recently started jigsaw with bits and pieces clearing up gradually. He knew that he was brought at the headquarters of the Ixian Knights, somewhere deep in Concordia, but that wasn’t really important. A forest was a forest, and a castle was a castle; they all looked the same to Victor. What did matter were the bits of information that didn’t fit the picture Victor had painted before he joined the struggle between these two powers.

The Ixian Knights were portrayed as power-hungry vigilantes by the people who hired him, as backstabbers that were using the commotion in the realm for their own gain. Suffice to say, the gunman expected a band of deadly warriors and brigands, or at worse politicians and diplomats. Instead, what he found as he shuffled through the menagerie of images poured from the mind of Sei Orlouge and into his own was an entirely different beast. The Knights were more a family than a war band, their castles filled with children as much as soldiers, their goals noble instead of selfish. Hells, Sei himself was ready to give it all up for the sake of safety of his daughter (or niece, or whatever the hell this Kyla was to him). That was enough to make even a hard-boiled bastard such as Victor Callahan rethink his course of action.

And while he was pondering, sitting on the windowsill of the barracks – a load of good that ever did – someone walked up to the guard outside and snapped his neck. Victor assumed the man was one of his allies, but the Phoenix Ascendant wasn’t exactly the most organized group of people and he couldn’t be certain. He did know the guard, though, or rather knew him from one of the slides in his head. His name was Leonard, but children around here used to call him Fat Leo, though not with any particular malice. Fat Leo had a bad habit of taking naps while on duty, and kids sometimes crept up to him and took his key chain, and then Fat Tom chased them across the yard, shouting. They would always return the keys once he started huffing and puffing like a blacksmith’s bellows, and he always had a smile for them and some hard candy in his pocket. The image cracked Victor’s face with a smallest of grins. Nice guy. Reminded the gunslinger of his cousin.

Hells, am I fighting on the wrong side here? he asked himself, but the reprimand from his own mind was instant and sharp, a reflex grown from years of hard living. Wars weren’t about who was wrong or right (though his father once jokingly said they were about who was left). It was all a matter of perspective. And from Victor’s perspective none of this junk swarming his mind should matter. He had set out to do a job and he should see it through to the end. And just then, when the gunslinger through his mind was set, Sei Orlouge came out of the dungeons, bowed over the guard and said a silent prayer.

So my allies kill in cold blood and my enemies pray and seek to save their loved ones? Victor moved away from the window, his gut feeling as if he ate two pieces of bad fish and went to bed early. He paced through the barracks a bit, flipping thoughts like hot pancakes. This entire situation was turning into one big pain in the ass. Because as much as he tried to maintain his hard shell, Victor Callahan still had a soul. It was dark and tainted and stuffed in some distant corner of his being, but it was still there, and every once in a while it had a voice. And sometimes the whispers coming from that corner were louder than screams of vengeance at the front of his mind.

Victor shook his head. Somebody once told him that when you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, no amount of thinking will help you and make her less ugly. Best you could do is get on with it and be done as soon as possible. So Victor Callahan pulled out his gun and stepped out of the barracks, determined to bring this mess to an end, however bloody it might be. On the other side of the gates, Corone was green and vibrant, ignorant to the strife taking place within the walls of the castle. It beckoned Victor, called him to leave all of this behind, leave these people to the fates they chose. But the gunslinger wasn’t a quitter. He had been a quitter for most of his life and it brought him naught but misery. Nowadays, Victor Callahan got things done.

To one side was the passage that led to the gardens, Victor knew, but he had observed Sei going there moments ago and he wasn’t quite ready to face the mute again. Instead the ex-con went in the opposite direction, towards a passage that led beneath the surface once again. He hoped that the tombs weren’t as dingy as the dungeons. But before he set foot on the stairway, the sound of ascending steps caused him to stop in his heels. Choosing caution instead of his usual bludgeoning approach, he swung around the corner and pressed himself against the stone wall, Aicha right next to his face, ready to sing.

[Amber Eyes]

The duo made their way up the steps that led to the outer gates of Ixian Castle, the taste of salt filling Kyla’s mouth as the humid day caught up with her, perspiration dripping from her hairline. The young mystic was blinded as the dim light of the caverns was replaced by the beaming sunlight. Her eyes became narrow as they filled with moisture threatening to join the sweat on her cheeks. She pulled her hand to her forehead to give herself a moment to adjust to the bright day.

She slowed her step, looking around for Draug and instead finding the body of the chubby guard. His gun was gone, no doubt in the hands of the dark prince. Coward! Follow me all the way here so that you can take a shot at the knights? Or are you… Kyla could picture the scene in her mind, Draug disappearing into the horizon with Azza in his disgusting arms. Cassandra would welcome him back with a loving touch and promises of power and glory. Akiv would…no, she couldn’t even bare to think of what would become of her son.I can’t let that happen. She was just about to run again, her heart racing from fear as much as her laps around the tombs, when a man stepped from behind the barracks.

His face was unfamiliar, hardened from Thaynes knows what. Several recent bruises were beginning to whelp on his cheeks, a thin white scar standing out against the purple and red swelling. He was tall and well-built, holding a pistol in a way that told the mystic he knew how to use it. There were many ways to hold a gun, the clumsy grip of those holding one for the first time, the overly aggressive straight-armed hold of those with something to prove, and the gentle grasp of one whose weapon was an extension of their arm. If someone falls into the final group you don’t want to be staring down the end of the barrel, and the man before her looked like he was born with a firearm in his grip.

As he stepped forward Kyla studied him, noting his dusty, disheveled clothes. She didn’t know how he got here, but something hadn’t been kind to the man. She swallowed, a mixture of fear and dryness burning the back of her throat. Leo’s voice filled her mind as she noticed the rope burns adorning the backs of the gunman's hands. "Lord Orlouge has disappeared into the dungeons with Max Dirks and a member of the Pheonix Ascendant and we have been unable to reach him.”

So if he’s here? Where is.. She said the last word aloud, barely more than a whisper as she stared into the mouth of the gun, her body going numb as she imagined the same weapon taking the life of the man she owed everything to. “Sei?”

[Death's Apprentice]

(Bunnying of Lynura approved. Coming from the Tombs)

The running had been rough on the noble woman, who was unused to such strenuous activity. The only reason she had kept up at all was the fact that she had not been living with her parents for so long. When one had to move about Vorsport constantly it built up a bit of endurance, though even that was trivial compared to the speed at which the Ixian General Kyla Orlouge moved through the castle.

Still to be in the lair of the beast so to speak was unsettling to the woman, forever glad she had the foresight to wear her rapier on her hip. It was no shock that Kyla didn't trust her, being as closed as Lynura, but at least the outcast of House Erraides was not stupid enough to give her real name to the enemy. Still, she wasn't sure what intelligence the Ixian Knights had on their enemy in this power struggle to take control of Corone, nor did she care. It obviously wasn't enough for Kyla to guess beyond the fact she lied. If they didn't have face recognition she didn't need to worry about being found out until she appeared at Court and made her first public blow against the Knights.

Sweat began to run a course down her spine, giving her a feeling of unseemliness she did not appreciate. A soft mutter of words caused the offending sweat to cleanse itself from her body, only to realize it was useless. The sweat returned almost immediately, and all she was accomplishing was the wasting of her energy. Energy that should have been put into keeping up with Kylana Orlouge. Her boots echoed off the walls as they bound up the last flight of stairs, assuring her the freedom to move about Ixian Castle.

That was, until Victor "Padre" Callahan stood nearby pointing a gun right at the two women.

"Mister Callahan!" Lynura shouted in utter disregard for her cover. Cover meant nothing if she was dead, "Please, put the weapon down! We can talk this out, I don't know what Elisdrasil ordered of you, but I am sure shooting me was not in those orders! Put the gun down!"

She had been sent to Radasanth ahead of the Ixian Knights to disrupt the support they would attempt to draw from the city. Elisdrasil had of course sought to give her all the time she needed in waylaying the Ixian Knight's forces in the small town of Galstaff. The fact that Victor as here was disconcerting to the Noblewoman. The Phoenix had been insistent she needn't worry about the physical aspect of the war, yet here she was watching the mercenary they had taken aboard pointing a gun at her.

She focused herself as her teachers taught her back at the academy, and the sound of metal upon metal rang through the courtyard as she prepared to fight. Not sure who the bigger threat was, Kyla or Victor. Still she took a steadying breath as she waited to see what would happen , preparing to throw her shield up should the one time prizefighter turn betrayer. Her eyes held a harder edge to them as she carefully took a step back from the two before her, giving her some room to react to anything.

[The Cinderella Man]

((For the sake of keeping the posts clean of OOC stuff, assume that all bunnying from this point on is approved, unless mentioned otherwise))

Well, that was easy, Victor thought once he recognized one of the girls as Kyla Orlouge. From the mind surge that Sei packed into the gunman’s cranium, there was little doubt about the importance of the girl to the Knight’s leader. As far as Sei went, the importance of the entire realm of Corone was second to his adopted daughter, and that was certainly a useful thing to know. Whoever controlled Kyla most likely controlled the outcome of this battle, if not the entire war, which made her perhaps the most valuable asset within the castle. And there she was, just strolling into his lap. Victor knew exactly what to do with her.

In comparison, the gunslinger had no idea what to make of the other girl. He knew that she was supposed to be working with the Phoenix Ascendant, and yet here she was, walking side by side with one of the most prominent figures of the Ixian Knights. That alone made him ignore her plea to lower his gun. In fact, when she made a backwards step in an attempt to put some distance between him and Kyla, his other hand moved in a flash, yanking out the sawed-off and pointing it towards the young blonde. That halted her retreat momentarily, her blue eyes widening ever so slightly. Aicha remained trained on Kyla as Victor’s eyes went from one to the other.

“The elf hired me to shoot some knights, wench. Knights... and their allies,” he said to the girl. “And you look like one of them.”

“I would never!” she insisted, her tone genuinely offended, even prissy. There was an odd air or royalty around this one that just rubbed Victor the wrong way all over. He hated royalty, with the stick usually so far up their bunghole that the far end of it hit the back of their throats.

“What did you do to Sei?” Kyla demanded, her brow furrowed, her feet firmly planted. There was fire in that one, Victor knew, fire and steel. Because it took both to look down the barrel of the gun and not feel as if your life was a dandelion seed in the wind, about to be blow away into oblivion. But there was also fear in her eyes, the desperate sort that people got when something they cared for got threatened.

“I gave him the taste of his own medicine,” the gunman said in an offhanded manner, but he wasn’t given a chance to elaborate. The little blonde was all up in arms about his accusation by then, her blue eyes throwing daggers in his direction.

“I was merely trying to gather some information, Mister Callahan,” she said.

“By taking a stroll hand-in-hand with the daughter of Sei Orlouge?” Victor said, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

“I was under cover, trying to infiltrate the compound.”

“Or maybe you were switching sides.”

“How dare you?! I am loyal to the Phoenix Ascendant!”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Well, in that at least we are similar. Tell me, Mister Callahan, how did you escape from both Sei Orlouge and Max Dirks?”

“I’ve got skills.”

And while the shoe made its way on the other proverbial foot as the young and the old argued, neither kept a watchful eye on the cause of all this arguing. Victor’s gun was still pointing at Kyla, but his eyes and his attention had to deal with the blonde and her questionable loyalties. He didn’t want to shoot either of them. There was something gut-wrenching in killing women, especially ones so young and pretty. He always felt as if, by doing to, he was robbing the world of a bit of its beauty, making it an even dourer place. And yet, sometimes it was a part of the job, and the only thing he could do was hope that today wasn’t one of those days.

[Amber Eyes]

((Rather than split my post Kyla's next post will be in the tombs.))

[Death's Apprentice]

Lynura was seething with rage as she witnessed the events unfold. One second she was arguing with Victor, the next she was covering her eyes from a fireworks display. Her anger only intensified threatening to take her cool as rubbed her eyes to clear them of the pain and irritation the fireworks had given off. When she spoke, it was through gritted teeth, "Let me make one thing clear Mister Callahan, I only plan on betraying two people in this world. The same two people that thought leaving me to rot in Vorsport would be an abject lesson in how much I needed them. If you think for one second I would sign up for this vigilantism, you are sadly mistaken. Outcast I may be, but a true daughter of Corone I remain. I would rather have you shoot me here and now, than witness the Ixian Knights perpetrate their sick farce of trying to 'save Corone'."

Words spoken she roughly sheathed her rapier in her sheath before she brushed idle strands of hair from her face and looked about the compound for some sign of their escaped prey. Her eyes narrowing dangerously as she finally shook her head in frustration. Her eyes scanned the area before she settled on the stairs and grumbled, "It appears she went to ground. If you wish to follow me you may, but I intend on finding out as much about their dirty dealings as possible. Besides, it's the only way back to Radasanth currently, and I would be loathe to cut off my only convenient escape route. Will you join me Mister Callahan, or is your mistrust so misguided that you seek to shoot me here and at least give me the crude blessing of not watching this insanity sink to new depths?"

Her eyes looked upon the mercenary with a glimmer of hope amidst the sea of anger. She didn't wish to do this on her own, but if that's what it took she would. She had signed up for this war when she offered her services to Elisdrasil in exchange for full partnership in the endeavor. She was a Phoenix through and through, and much like the mythical bird, she intended for this war to allow her to rise from the ashes of discarded mediocrity.

And as her teachers always said, mediocrity was a horrible fate.

(Lynura will pause only long enough to hear Victor's response before heading downstairs to the Tombs once more.)

[The Cinderella Man]

Women, Victor thought, an inevitable grin on his scruffy face. Young or old, pretty or haggard, they all meant trouble one way or the other. The gunslinger knew this from experience, what with growing up with three of them once his father died. Women could talk you to an early grave, they could send you on a guilt trip with a glance and they usually finagled you into doing things that way even if you had no intention to do so. This situation was no different. There was an easy way to do this, with grabbing a hold of Kyla and using her as bait whist not having a chickie with questionable loyalties as a sidekick. And then, of course, there was the reality which involved a lot of flashy lights and what looked like a beginning of a tiresome chase. All that was left for Victor to do was banish the blur from his vision with a shake of his head and follow Lynura into the bowels of the castle.

((Leaving Outer Gates, entering Tombs))

[Aimer Haine Rogers]

It seemed as though my feet were carrying me purely on instinct. I had to get to the tombs and find the children as soon as possible. Dust kicked up from below the ground with every step I made, quickly settling back onto the dirt from which it came moments before. I paused for a moment in an attempt to catch my breath. That monster, whatever it was, had nearly run me through with his sword. The feeling of imminent death still pulsated over my being, causing my limbs to tremble and shakily hold the two weapons I now possessed.

Yet, despite my gut wrenching fear of the situation, I had never felt so alive. This must have been what it felt like when warriors had engaged one another in battle for long periods of time. As the adrenaline in my system left me, I could not help but wonder if this was why fights took on increasingly difficult arenas in the citadel. I had never understood it until now, but the high that was running through my body was showing me the reason for taking such risks with ones life.

As I took time to breathe, parts of dust from my wake slowly entering my nose, tickling the hairs within, I also happened to catch wind of something else. My nose scrunched up at the stench, a smell worse than that of rotting milk and feces, and looked around for its source. I began to walk through the gates of the Ixian Castle, my eyes growing wide at the sight of a lifeless body lying in the path beyond. Flies had begun to swarm over the corpse, hinting that vultures would probably soon be close behind. I placed Emma’s sword in the waistband of my pants. The cold steel of the weapon sent shivers down my spine, an unwelcomed feeling when coupled with the raw odor of death.

I covered my mouth in an attempt to keep myself from throwing up, my eyes looking around the dead man for traces of his murderer. While I could not find any clues, I noticed several foot prints leading to and from the body lightly marked in the dirt below. Looking towards my own feet, I soon realized that there were many more footprints leading from the gates, in the direction of the tombs. The kids had a decent lead on me, and no doubt Lord Orlouge and possibly that beast would be following my tracks.

I had to try and make sure that the creature did not know the location of the children. Walking further out into the wilderness, I happened upon a small tree branch, small limbs covered with leaves. “Perfect,” I said to nobody in particular, and picked the thing up. I made my way back to the corpse, using the leafy end of the branch to ‘draw’ against the ground, as it were.

I smiled as I watched the faded footprints fade from existence in small clouds of dust. I continued on this path for several minutes, walking backwards so my own tracks would be covered as well. I thought myself clever for this idea. There was no way anyone would realize where the children were heading, not unless they already knew of our back up plan in advance. This idea would slow me down immensely, but at the very least, I could make sure that my trail was cold. I could stop the children from learning that feeling of adrenaline and fear that I had felt moments ago.

((Aimer moves from Outer Gates to Tombs))

[Abomination]

((Draug arrives from the Garden.))

The Homunculus' breath was heavier than normal. The shards that were embedded in his legs and extra arms had been pushed out by his body, but the open wounds remained. The bleeding had stopped everywhere but his chest, where each breath pushed out a small amount of blood that trailed down his shirt. The chakram did more damage than he thought. Looking around, the first thing that caught his sight was Fat Leo's body. Looks like nobody bothered to remove it from the grounds. Did the kids pass by it? Did they know the terror that came from seeing someone they knew dead? Did they know that Draug was the one who did it? The assimilation earlier provided him a glimpse into Leonard's memories. The way he played with the kids, the way he was kept back on guard duty while the other warriors went out to fight in the war. He was their heel; their sign that they were home. Now he was just another casualty of war. Another one of Cassandra Remi's victims. And for what did he die? Quite simply, he was just in the way. Another reminder of the consequences of letting The Dark Mother leave the castle in one piece.

Draug's broken ribs stabbed into his lungs with each breath. He was fairly sure that his plan would not come to fruition now, as the kids were getting further from his grasp. It bothered him to think that he could not accomplish his mother's mission, but she always told him not to pointlessly throw his life away. A broken tool was of no use to her. In the end, his main purpose here was to make sure the deed was done, and his personal touch was not necessary. They still had Kyla's child, and because of that she had an obligation to The Cult. Wherever the kids were, it proved much easier for Kyla to displace one of them without drawing attention.

The Homunculus turned his gaze to the open gates, and the extra arms on his back fell off, leaving two circular holes on the back of his outfit that quickly filled in with skin. The fallen arms melted and shriveled into the ground, leaving only the two longswords and a rapidly draining puddle of blood and skin. Draug ran out of the castle grounds, intending to watch Kyla perform her task from afar.

Sometimes the prospect of terror was not the greatest after the terrible thing was done, but in the fear from it being a possibility. The children weren't safe from The Cult, and Draug posed a constant question to the Ixians: Would they ever be?

[Silence Sei]

Sei tried to catch his breath. The day had seen him running far more than he had ever intended. How did a simple interrogation go so haywire? The mute felt at his head, felt the beads of sweat running down his hair, and sighed. He had to push on, despite how exhausted his body was starting to feel. The safest place in the castle had to be the tombs. With its dozens of winding hallways and doors, there would be a variety of spots one could hide and never be found.

The mute looked to the corpse of Leo, closing his eyes and turning away from the horrid sight. Draug’s smell still permeated in the air, but it seemed to have a more recent allure to its scent. Sei opened his eyes, his mind wondering how the beast managed to beat him to the outer gates despite the injury the mute had seen inflicted on the homunculi. His eyes trailed downwards, past the lifeless body of Leo. There were signs of recent activity in the area.

The first were the blood splatters on the ground, quickly evaporating into the air and leading out into Concordia Forest. Draug was retreating, no doubt back to Cassandra Remi. This put Sei at ease, though the telepath still wished to pursue the monster. As soon as he had taken his first step towards the outside world, his eyes caught something else in his peripherals. Small leaves had been scattered here and there, leading in a strange pattern towards the tombs. Somebody was covering their tracks, as well as the tracks of others (Sei knew this because his own footprints heading towards the gardens had disappeared).

Sei had one daughter missing, but he still had three in the castle. Draug had disappeared, but who was to say that agents from the Cult were completely gone? Sei turned on his heel, taking a deep breath. Without any more hesitation, the mute headed towards the direction of the tombs, an attempt to make sure his three remaining girls were still safe. He would try to save his little girls from any more potential dangers lurking around Ixian Castle. It would be increasingly difficult with how weary his body was getting, however.

So much running…

((Sei moves from the Outer Gates to the Tombs))