Jake practices his sword movements while Evie looks for a signal for her phone. "Hey Jake? Where's the router?" Evie asks. Jake sighs. "Look, we're in the middle of nowhere, there's no wifi, no cell towers, nothing." Silence enters the space, creating an awkward mixture. "Oh, that's fine, look, am I bothering you?" Evie asks. "No, I'm sorry, the attitude was unnecessary." Evie's eyes light up. "Hey, you wanna spar?!" she asks excitedly. "Um, I'm not sure if…" Evie interrupts as she fires some lasers out of her hands. "Haha, come on Jake, deflect them!" Jake swings his sword around and blocks all the shots, he pulls out a second one and chases Evie around. "Aghhh, noooo! Hahaha!" Evie laughs as Jake grows slightly frustrated. "Hold still!" As Jake and Evie play super human tag, Jake finds himself back in the 13th century, with the royal squad. He just got back from knight training with Noelleia, now going to take a rest on his couch in his room.
"Jake?" Noellia asks, no response. "Hey, wake up, your princess wants some company!" Noellia yells as Jake suddenly jolts up. "Oh, haha, that's how you guys talk, I thought it was all military, remember?" Jake asks. "Oh come on I'm just a kid myself. Seventeen ya know?" Noellia asks. "Haha, only 15 here, I'm turning 16 next year." Noelleia sits next to Jake at the edge of his bed. "Oh, when?" she intrigues. "October fourth." Noelleia puts her leg up on his lap, so casual around him. "You sure have your way of treating your subordinates." Jake jokes. "One year you changed my entire mind about you, don't mind the others. You've proved more than your worth."
"Don't mind Uno either. He's just upset we moved on." Jake chuckles. "Was that some kind of arrangement?" Jake asks. "I arrange everything in these lands, down to the last blade of grass. "Is he really an angel?" Jake asks. "He claims he can sense that I'm some…" Noelleia laughs. "He's delusional. His powers are from above, but he's not from there himself." Noelleia explains. "Yeah, but aren't you concerned about how all the captains were looking at us? They seem intense." Jake asked.
"Yeah, maybe if they didn't leave the ballroom I would. But notice how they all left? They knew their place." Jake takes in the smell of fresh air as he looks over to an abandoned ballroom building. Evie laughs as she heads back to the shack Jake set up. "Jake you coming?" Evie asks as she catches Jake just staring at the old building. "Jake?"
Later that evening, Jake and Noelleia are chilling on the couch. Noelleia keeps trying to get closer physically to him. Jake's used to this, it's been going on for the past three months. He's just brushed it off as her personality, unsure of what to do. Unsure if this is what he wants. "Will this get in the way of the miss-" Noelliea interrupts his thoughts. "Hey, can I ask you something?" Jake turns his head to Noelliea. "I'd say shoot your shot but it looks like you already did." Noelleia rolls her eyes. "You remember when we first met, you were all confused and didn't know about your ability." Jake nods his head. "Are you really one of them? I mean a devil man?" Jake freezes, he pushes Noelleia off the couch genitally, he gets up and looks out the window, leaning against it. "How do you know about them?" Noelleia gets up to join him. "Haha, what do you mean, we've always known. They've ruled over kingdoms many times over. Kingdoms we fought and conquered. I knew as soon as you blew up that tree." Jake just looks at her as he walks towards her. "Why would you let me in if you knew this whole time that I was evil?" Noelleia shakes her head. "If you were really evil you wouldn't be here fighting with us. You wouldn't run from it." Jake nods as he wipes his eyes of tears.
"You've seen the devil then, haven't you." Jake nods. "Is he really as scary as legends say?" Jake shakes his head. "Satan is arrogant, prideful, and the author of sin. Yet just because he is the leader does not mean he is the most powerful. He could fool people that he is, but when that arrogant Jester took the throne with his mimicry, that is true fear, that is true pain, that is true evil itself. The purest form of corruption. The Joker.
The following morning was crisp and warm, in both the present and in the 13th century. Noelliea and her crew rode out early that morning on official business. "So, you know what you're doing?" she asks as she rode next to Jake. "Yeah, just go around the forest, kill any boars I see!" Noelleia nods her head. "Great, I'll meet you there!" she says as she activates her ability. Water forms all around her in the form of armor, hardening yet also liquifying into a state of matter in between two matters. Noellia's ability is able to slay a whole herd of Boars all at once. Jake on the other side takes out his sword and starts hacking at some of them. The rest flee to Noelleia, she then finishes them off with a spear. Suddenly some royal knights ride towards them to see how they are doing.
"Hey, how's the progress?" Uno asks using his ability to communicate long distance. "Oh it's going good, ME and JAKE are really getting along now, aren't we!" Noelliea responded. Uno chuckles a little. "Hey, Jake is it? How many have you killed?" Uno gives Jake a mean stare. Jake wasn't intimidated, but rather matched his energy. The horses slow down and everyone dismounts them, allowing Jake to pull her closer, causing Noelliea to blush. The Sargent pulls closer to the other three. "Everyone, focus! We still have plenty more to go" he says as he adjusts his glasses. "Alright then" Jake says bitterly. Uno and the sergeant run off. Noelleia and Jake are left behind, allowing them some air to breathe as they laugh among themselves. "Boars huh" Jake says in the present. He sees several roaring and oinking as he takes out his sword. He looks back at the shack Evie slept in, then at the wild hoard and grits his teeth as tears stream down from his eyes. He lets out a loud cry as he charges towards the wild horde, slicing and dicing through the animals with pure fury and anger.
Hours go by before the forest is clear, meat merchants come by to pick up the carcasses. After, Jake directs the merchants where to go while Noelleia looks for him. "Hey, I left to get supplies but it looks like you took out the whole forest by yourself!" she says rather proudly. "Oh no big deal, only three had abilities, but they aren't tough." Noelleia laughs as their conversation draws more attention to the merchants around. "Let's head back" Jake says as he looks around at the different gazes from various folks. "Oh, I should probably stay. My horse is being used right now." Jake smiles as he offers his hand. "It's okay, you can use mine. I'll take you there." Noelleia nods as two go on Jake's horse, as they ride off Jake has voices in his head.
You're nothing, You're just a devil.
Not even that, you BETRAYED US!
Freak.
Satan will send his apostle for you.
JUST DIE ALREADY, SO WE CAN TORTURE YOU!
I HATE YOU JAKE! WE'LL KILL EVERYONE YOU LOVE, WE'LL TAKE THEIR LIVES!
Jake falls off his horse in a panic, hitting the ground hard. Noelleia screams out for Jake in fear and panic as she maintains control of the stallion. She stops his horse and gets off, she runs to Jake in a panic. Jake lies on the ground knocked out. "Jake, are you okay?!" Jake starts to wake up, his eyes flutter open as Noelleia looks down worried. Then, at that moment, horrible images of people being slaughtered flashes in his mind and before his eyes. Mass hoards of zombies rushing into the city walls, tearing people apart senselessly. "Shit" Jake thought to himself as he got up. "Noelleia, the city, We gotta go!" Jake yells as he grabs Noelliea's hand. "Now hold on, you just fell off your horse hard, we need to rest here!" Jake shakes his head. "We have to go back, NOW!" Noelleia and Jake look in the distance to see Finny, Uno, and the rest of the Noelleia squad riding towards them. "Everyone, the demons are back!" Lucky jumps off his horse.
"I was fighting this guy, so was Uno, he just kept summoning more and more undead soldiers into the city, and they kept coming in the thousands, the walls, they're all down. And, I kept going and going, but they just kept coming. No one could fight them off!" Lucky starts to break down. "Yeah, that cult came back, and well, they had these angel wings. Right as the undead came they turned into these devil looking things with red eyes and fire and shit! Now they're all gone, we don't know where the captains or other knights are, but the cult, they're all devils." Noelleia's eyes widened in horror.
"Alright, Listen up, I have a plan, Finny and Finessa, you guys take the east portion. Lucky and Magma, you guys take south. Harry and Gouche, you guys take the west. Grey and Charm, you guys take the north, Noelleia and Uno, you guys take the heart of the city!" Jake orders as he begins to mount his horse, however he is cut off as Uno slams him against a tree. "You wanna order us around while you sit back! What about you huh? Where are you going?" He looks at Uno. He grabs his wrist and moves his hand off of himself, he then looks at Uno in the eyes, his left one glowing red.
"I'm going into the heart of hell so YOU don't have to! Uno looks at Jake dirty, but that soon turns to fear and dread as Jake continues to stare Uno down. "HEY, That's enough the both of you, Jake, I'll be deciding that!" Jake gives Noelliea a blank stare. "I know where I'm needed" Jake spoke as a sudden loud explosion knocks them all to their backs. Suddenly, a giant demon appears. The source of the explosion roars an almost computer electronic sound before releasing fireballs. The giant creature stands towering over everything man made. It has a physical body with four arms, one giant tail, and three mean yellow eyes. Behind it was the entity's spirit, two wings connected to a ring of yellow eyes that hover over the back of the entity's avatar, the entity's physical body. Both these aspects are horrifyingly visible for those fleeing.
Jake rushes towards the giant monster, but its tail knocks him far back. Uno uses his magic wind and flies up around the beast, swirling around it as he summons his sword and cuts it up. However, it keeps growing back it's wounded flesh. "Damn, he really was a demon," Uno thought. He then gets thrown across the battlefield as everyone uses their combined talents to take on this beast. Uno lies unconscious as Jake rushes to help him up. "Uno!" Jake yelled as Uno's eyes gazed upon Noelliea. "No, Noelleia, what are you doing, don't fight that thing, just run!" Uno thought as he picks himself up and put his hand on Jake. He moves him right as a demon minion stabs Uno in the gut. "NOOO UNO!"Uno kills the demon and uses his wind magic. "Just go and beat that thing already DEMON!"
He sends Jake flying through the air, as Jake heads up to the beast's head, he sees it grabbing Noelleia. His fist crushing her body as he flies closer and closer to the monster. "NOOOOO!" Jake roars as he goes flying into its third eye, gouging it out. He forces more blood out of the beast, his sword however breaks, The beast looks at Jake and uses its fists to crush Jake. Jake falls to the ground next to Noelleia. Covering her from the beast's sight. Jake holds out his hand, "I'm ready" he thought as he looks at the raging monster. It smiles at them, Jake looks around, everyone else is on the ground, broken bones and all. "Jake, stay back, you'll get hurt!" Noelleia yells through her broken vocal chords. "I, son of the fallen ones, swear with my right arm" Jake spoke softly as he recites his oath as a knight. "TO PROTECT THE KINGDOM AND ALL OF ITS PEOPLE. I SWORE TO PROTECT THE ROYALS OF THESE LANDS, SO HELP ME GOD EVEN IF IT COSTS ME MY LIFE!"
Back in the forest, the swords start to move towards Jake, he catches one of them in his hands. The other one in his other hand, and the third one in his mouth. He charges at the beast as it throws another heavy attack at Noelleia. He blocks them and goes for the head, Blasting out of its brain is Jake, covered in demon blood. The beast falls down, a loud crash is heard everywhere as it breaks several bones on impact. "Jake?!" Noelleia yells as Jake falls on the ground, his swords disappear into a little red portal. Everyone starts to get back up. "JAKE LETS GOO!" Lucky yells. "That's our Black Knight!" Finessa yells. "Nice going!" Char adds, Noelleia looks at her squad mates all hyped and around Jake, she looks back, assuming Uno is behind her. "Nice job pushing Jake into the beast, see I think you two could work together beautifully." Noelleia utters softly.No response. "Hey Uno, did you hear me?" She looks behind her to find Uno up against a tree, his belly pierced by a stab wound from a branch, covered in blood. His eyes closed. "UNO!!!!!" She yelled with the last of her strength from her lungs. Jake and the others look at Noelleia, they all rush to her to find Uno dead. Noelleia hugs Jake, horrified to see him dead in such a brutal way. The squad stays there until soldiers can come and pick up the body. The squad stays positioned, waiting for the higher ups to make their next move to clear the city. Jake starts to leave when Noelleia stops him. She stood up against a tree as she feels herself slowly recovering.
"What do you think you're doing?" She asks Jake. "I have to go to hell, they're making something down there, it's my fault if they succeed. This was only the beginning." Noelleia shakes her head. "No, I won't let you suffer down there. We need you here!" she argues. "NOELLIEA, THIS ISN'T UP TO YOU, THIS IS MORE THAN THE KINGDOM THAT'S AT STAKE!" Noelleia tears up a little. "Wait, look, I'm... I didn't mean to...." Noelleia suddenly lunges at Jake, kissing me on the lips. She hugs him tightly, scared that he'll end up like Uno. This catches Jake off guard. He responds with a tighter hug, deepening the kiss. they both eventually stop. Looking at each other, not knowing what to say. "Please come back" Noelleia pleads. "Haha, you think I won't?" Jake asks as he goes for another kiss. After their lips depart the two stand there amongst the remnants of the battle. "I'm scared you won't, you were born there, they might convince you otherwise." Jake laughs a little, in a sinister way, he then looks at Noelleia with a warm smile.
"Alright soldiers, we're moving out! We need to reinforce the castle walls!" The Captain yelled, leaving Jake to himself as Noelliea hesitantly leaves him. "Noelleia, when I get back, I'll make you the happiest woman alive. But we can't be happy if they're still out there" Jake thought as he looked off into the distant horizon.
To be Continued.....