Where Ancients Tread (Closed) [Archive]

Arden

04-15-15, 05:43 AM

Corone seldom got to know peace. War was in its blood. Conflict was in its rivers and streams. A sword swing was in its wind. A cannonade lingered like an echo in its history. There was motion everywhere. Unending upset and chaos wherever you looked. Atop a rocky outcrop Arden Janelle looked out across a bleak landscape. This was Corone's price for progress.

Though the rise of the Ixian Knights in the country had done away with the tyrannical Empire, people loathed peace just as much as war. Many opponents of Sei Orlouge's rule worked against his presence. They fabricated lies and pursued notions of grandeur, bids to replace one paragon of peace with another supposed saviour.

"Do you think its Thayne-born?"

"Doubt it," Lillith replied. She folded her arms across her chest and tapped her geta on the ash. "It'd have levelled Radasanth if it were."

Arden chuckled nervously. "True enough."

A week prior mysterious messages began to appear nailed to fence post and tree trunk. It was propaganda, through and through, declaring the Ixian Knights to be the enemy of freedom and the target for an attack. Arden had expected a riot, or perhaps an explosive. An assassination would have been easier to deal with than the truth. A creature, unlike any they had seen on Coronian soil began a rampage across the flats outside the capital city.

"That isn't a good sign, though," he said, pointing to the maelstrom to the east. The vast cycle of wind and smoke and lightning indicated that the beast was still rampaging. Though they could not see the fiery heart of the Axton, they could hear it. The Oni in the swordsman's heart writhed in its presence. The spider in his sister's soul scuttled nervously in the dark.

"We will need help."

"I asked for it," he replied. He looked across his shoulder. "I hope my work training the soldiers at the castle proves fruitful."

Clad in little more than a kimono and hair adornments, the assassin rolled her eyes. She carried more weapons than clothing. Two tanto strapped to each leg. A red katana was strapped to her back. She concealed three kunai beneath each fold of her tunic. Had the Axton's presence not made the atmosphere quite so humid, she would have brought her parasol, fan, and chains.

"We're out of our depth, Arden. I don't think soldiers will do much more than die horribly."

The siblings caught one another's cautious glare, and realised that even with a garrison they were in danger. Arden nodded glumly.

"Then," he unsheathed Fang into his right hand, "I hope Sei sends someone a little more robust and capable of having a good time." Several Ixian Knights popped into his mind. A crack of thunder vibrated through the thick green clouds above. The ash wastes around them teethed. It was getting closer. They were running out of time.

On cue, a vortex of vines appeared behind them bringing much needed reinforcements and hope.