Chapter 9: Ajal; Shauran 20th, 344SR; 05:50
'If you don't kill them... They'll just come back!'
"Peace... Requires sacrifice..." Ajal murmured under his breath in thought.
'Even worlds outside of Imperion, are cursed with wrath...'Ajal glanced over his shoulder at Jack, who had been following with his head down. The two hadn't exchanged words for a while. It was dark, the wind rustled the leaves of the trees above. They made their way through the lush forest, accompanied by the ambience of nature. 'He probably thinks I sound pretentious when I say that... If I was in his position, I'd think the same...'
Jack had short hair, his light skin dry and darkened by ash, dirty beige pants, and a stained white shirt. Ajal could feel his skin crawling at the touch of the unwashed clothes he received from him. 'They don't have showers... Bathing must be a pain...' Ajal pulled his collar up and sniffed it, the scent reminding him of dirty socks. 'Seems like I ended up somewhere interesting...'
They were reaching the eastern edge of the forest, and the number of trees around them slowly dwindled. 'Come to think of it...' Ajal focused his spirit on his forehead, and his third eye opened. 'Spirit Sense.' He felt thousands of spirits in each direction, the most to the north, the only spirits of animals and insects were in that direction. In every other direction were just people and plants. 'There isn't a single animal or insect in this forest? Forget the forest, the only animals are in one location for two hundred and fifty miles? Seriously?' Ajal's third eye closed as they reached the base of a hill.
"Up there," Ajal pointed to the top of a hill.
Ajal crouched down low, and focused his spirit on his foot. With a single step, he was already halfway up the hill. He effortlessly ran up the rest in four steps. The gentle wind brushed past his face for a moment as he quickly ascended. He reached the top in a moment, turning and looking down at Jack who was still at the bottom of the hill.
"There is no way I can do that..." Jack yelled from the bottom.
"Wait there," Ajal yelled back, then turned and looked over the hill.
He stayed behind the giant brown oak trees to avoid being seen. To the left down the hill, the trail continued out of the forest towards a large building near the cliffside surrounded by a gate at least twice Ajal's height. 'Seems like they brought it here...'
Several people stood by the front gate in white robes, all armed with polearms. The gate surrounding the building ran from the face of the mountain to the cliff side. Ajal scanned the edges of the building for an entrance, then noticed what appeared to be pipes on top of it. 'A factory? I don't see any smoke... But that tells me something about their tech...' Ajal turned and slid down the hill, leaves rustling behind him. As he reached the bottom, he shifted his weight, stopping himself in front of Jack.
"They definitely pulled my ship through here. There's a factory at the top of the hill a lot of people wearing white were guarding..." Ajal pointed out.
"The guard's in white are definitely angels..." Jack asked curiously.
"Huh, I really thought they'd have wings..." Ajal continued forward nonchalantly.
"Are... Are you not worried? At all?!" Jack asked in disbelief.
As they got around the bend, they found themselves at the bottom of the massive hill. At the top of the hill was the factory Ajal had spotted earlier, surrounded by an iron wall. 'My Dragoon better not be damaged...' The path was extremely dark, the only light was from two torches at the front gate.
"Shouldn't we like... Make a plan?" Jack stressed, continuing to glance toward the hilltop.
"It's fine, don't worry, best case scenario we get in and out without them-" Ajal stopped and immediately crouched down, pulling Jack down with him.
The tall grass brushed against Ajal's face, it was tall enough for Jack and Ajal to hide in the darkness.
"What? Why are we hiding?" Jack whispered.
"We're not alone," Ajal said as he looked back to the top of the hill he stood upon earlier.
The silhouettes of four people stood at the top of the hill. They seemed to be observing the same building Jack and Ajal were heading to. The four of them charged down the hill and spread out, one ran directly towards the front gate. They scattered in multiple directions as they all ran low, blending into the patches of darkness cast by the torches.
"Who are you?! State your name!" the angel near the gate shouted, however, the mysterious group continued forward without hesitation.
"Shit! There are more of them! Ifrin call for backup!" another angel shouted in the distance.
The first member on the hill engaged the two angels at the gate. He was big, charging in bare handed. He swung his clenched fists into the guards. From that distance, Ajal could barely hear the distant grunts and groans of their struggle.
"Huh... Do you know who they are?" Ajal whispered to Jack.
"N-No... This is the first time I've ever seen anyone else fight back against the angels... Who could they be?" Jack pondered.
Ajal pushed Jack's head down again as one of the shadows grew closer. It was a young woman, she ran towards the left of the hill while the others from the hill continued to spread out around the building. The two angels drew metal staffs, one of them swinging his staff and striking the assailant in the head. A red mist lingered around his head, Ajal watched the man use his spirit to mitigate some damage. 'Huh- He...' The man's hood fell, revealing his bright red hair, he ran forward with a battle cry and tackled the angel to the ground. His fist struck the angel's stomach, then his face. He continued to relentlessly clobber the angel while grunting ferociously.
"Hey that guy can use spirit arts? Why can't you?" Ajal tilted his head at Jack.
"What are you talking about? Spirit arts? That's what you did to the boulder, isn't it? He can do that? Wait- I can do that?" Jack whispered in shock and surprise.
"You should be able to... Anyways, let's follow that one," Ajal pointed to the dark figure running up the hill.
The woman made her way up towards the wall before she seemed to disappear over the hill. Ajal darted forward in the darkness and tall grass, laying low and quickly climbing the steep hill. Jack struggled to match his speed, instead, he ran out of breath a quarter of the way up the hill as he tried to keep pace. Ajal reached the top of the hill but to his surprise, the girl was gone. He looked at the wall and noticed a rope going over. Ajal turned to see Jack struggle up the hill, scratching his head as he thought about their difference in speed. As Jack reached the top, he curled forward and held his knees, huffing repeatedly as he caught his breath.
"Let's go," Ajal grabbed the back of Jack's collar.
"Huh?" Jack looked confused, but Ajal suddenly jumped over the wall, turning his confusion into terror.
Ajal landed on the other side of the gate, he held Jack with one hand above the ground. A door into the building was left wide open, yellow light spilling out of their entrance. Ajal let go of Jack, and he immediately fell to his knees and grabbed his mouth.
"Sorry the rope was just gonna take too long," Ajal apologized as Jack vomited.
Ajal simply turned away with a blank expression 'I probably could have warned him...'
"Ask me before you do something like that!" Jack shouted with tears in the corner of his eyes.
Ajal scanned the area. The stone building was about two stories high. The front gate down the path to the right was wide open. There were training dummies made from sticks and straw arranged along the wall. Wagons full of dirt or stone. Baskets full of weaponry and tools.
"What is this place?" Jack pondered.
"I thought it was a factory... But it seems like a place for training..." Ajal pointed out as he lifted a wooden sword out of a barrel. "Let's keep going..."
They both peeked inside and noticed an angel unconscious on the ground. Ajal walked right past the angel, Jack poked him with his foot just in case. Another door in front of them was left open, they walked into the large room and found themselves on a stone catwalk that stretched along the left side of the room. At the other end of the catwalk was an open door to another section of the building, the woman from earlier hurried down the path.
Below a large metal door was being guarded by angels who fought against the intruders. There were mixed grunts and wails from the commotion down below. Jack and Ajal looked over the edge to see the one who charged the front gate, he was fighting three angels at once.
"Holy crap that guy is intense!" Jack held the rails tightly as he watched them fight.
'That's intense?' Ajal shook his head, turning away and continuing down the catwalk. The man let out a roar as he dodged an incoming staff, stepped forward, and planted his fist into the angel's stomach. The other two each swung their staff, but he didn't budge from the hit. He tried to kick him away but the angel blocked the foot with his staff. The third angel used his staff to put the man into a headlock, but the red-haired man ripped his arms free. Two more people in black clothing ran into the room to assist the red-haired man.
"Come on!" one of them roared as Ajal entered the other room down the catwalk.
'What the...' Ajal saw the girl from earlier, she was tinkering with the lock on a door at the other end of the catwalk.
She was just shorter than Jack, her hair was tucked under a black cap. Ajal looked at her leg and noticed a secured knife, she wore black camo pants with a black turtleneck and gloves. Her hair slipped out the back of her hat and she had multiple extra pockets for utility. The lock on the door clicked and she opened it, only to be met with a wall of stone in front of her.
The girl made a fist, Ajal noticed an aura surrounding her hand. 'So they are using spirit arts... just...' She swung her fist forward and made a small dent in the stone wall '... Not properly...'
"Ah... Damn!" she winced in pain.
She tried to punch the wall again and made a small dent, the impact echoing through the room. She turned around to walk back across the balcony but then saw Ajal.
"A miner... What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Miner?" Ajal raised an eyebrow.
Ajal looked down at his clothes. 'Oh...' But, a purple light suddenly caught his eye. Ajal turned to the right and looked over the balcony. His eyes widened, and he felt a sudden rush of anger. Children no more than a few months old were on the lower level. Their skin colors varied, but they all seemed to be of similar age. They were all resting in strange stone cradles with glass tops connected to a metal, pillar-shaped device. A large chunk of purple crystal was embedded into the pillar. The same purple crystal that grew from Ajal's blood. Pipes and wires were connected to the cradles, channeling purple liquid from the central machine into the newborn children.
"What... Is this?" Ajal uttered in shock.
Ajal's fists clenched, he felt a familiar rage course through him. Jack ran through the door to the larger room and saw what Ajal was staring at.
"Who are you? You two shouldn't be here!" the short woman tried to warn Jack and Ajal.
"Those kids are... They were taken yesterday by members of House Rael... But... They shouldn't have been brought here?" said Jack.
"I'm serious!" the woman shouted.
"Ajal... That girl's got a knife," Jack mentioned.
"Those bastards..." Ajal uttered under his breath as he jumped over the rail, fell towards the lower level, and landed on two feet.
"Ajal? What are you doing?!" Jack shouted.
"Why would he jump from this height, is he insane?!" the woman yelled.
Ajal landed on one knee, the impact felt like nothing to him. The floor was grey cement, and Ajal could see his breath in the air. He looked around the room and saw the wires travel from the pods to the central device the purple crystal was connected to.
"They're really using my blood to create weapons," Ajal muttered angrily.
Ajal stretched his hand up into the sky, the girl and Jack were surprised to see a black shadow form in his hand and extend into a pole. He spun it and took a stance, a black blade stretched out of the end as he twirled the scythe around himself. The shadow took the form of a long black scythe.
"Is that a scythe? Does he have a gift? Then... Who are you two?!" The girl turned to Jack and put her fists up. "You can't be non-unified, you're angels aren't you!"
"Wait! I'm non-unified, he's not from here, calm down!" Jack cowered.
"What do you me-" she was cut off by the sound of air swishing around rapidly below.
Ajal spun his scythe even faster, dust and pebbles got picked up in the draft he created. 'Spirit...' He gripped both hands on the scythe and swung his scythe through the air. 'Ignition!' The scythe didn't reach, but the smoke in front of him split in two horizontally. The pillar at the center of all the children split in two as well, separating the purple crystal from the pillar-shaped device. It fell slowly towards Ajal as a purple light radiated off his head.
"What in the..." Jack whispered.
Ajal tossed the scythe to the side, but as it hit the floor it dissipated into a shadow. At the same time, he raised both hands and caught the crystal. Ajal leaned back as he looked up, his third eye opened and began to pulse with purple light. He leaned forward and threw the crystal to the cieling. Jack and the woman watched with their jaws on the floor as Ajal fired a condensed purple beam from his forehead at the crystal. The beam engulfed the statue, and broke straight through the wall of the building. A buzzing sound filled the room, the crystal slammed into the mountain side and exploded. A bright purple light and an intense heat smothered the area. The shockwave rippled through the ground as the building shook from the force of the blast. The beam disappeared as Ajal's third eye closed. Purple flames remained along the edge of the hole in the roof.
"What... In the..." the girl uttered in disbelief.
"Now- I didn't know he could do that..." Jack admitted.
She held the rail with her jaw dropped and eyes wide before she backed up and looked at Jack in fear.
"We're not with the angels. Uhm... My name's Jack, that's Ajal," he tried to explain to her, but when she heard his name her eyes seemed to become wider.
"You're- You're Jack... Jack Eldritch? No way..." She froze for a moment, and then ran past Jack and into the previous room in a hurry.
"Huh?" Jack uttered in confusion.
Ajal jumped up and grabbed the rail, then pulled himself up.
"We're getting those kids out of here by the way," Ajal mentioned.
"I-I've got no problem with that," said Jack. "So uh... You really don't have a gift?"
Ajal approached the open door with a wall of stone behind it. He focused his spirit into his foot, then kicked the entire door. Jack cowered as the door flew open, smashing through the false wall behind it. Chunks of rock hit the stone ground below, or rattled against the metal grates of the catwalk.
"Who would put a wall behind a door..." Jack asked as he poked his head into the hidden room.
"Someone trying to hide something..." Ajal walked through nonchalantly.
This room was a bit smaller than the others, the catwalk extended around all sides, leading back around to the previous rooms. On the ground level, pieces of technology Ajal could recognize were scattered around the lower level of the room.
"Dammit," Ajal kissed his teeth.
The ship had been torn piece by piece and scattered around the room along with some other mechanical junk Ajal didn't recognize. Around the walls of the room were individual pieces of glossy white armor, and strange weaponry. He could see swords and polearms, but also equipment he didn't recognize. 'So they have some decent technology of their own... And judging from the fact they know what my blood is capable of... They aren't as ignorant as I first thought... But... They didn't take everything... Did they only use specific parts?'
"I can't put this back together... I don't even know if all the pieces are here," Ajal groaned.
Ajal could see the inside of the exposed hanger, a skeleton of the ship's hull was all that remained. The entire engine was missing, and only one of the thrusters remained. 'They made sure to take the weaponry off...' Scraps of torn steel and blue plates were littered over the messy room. 'I don't have the tools... Even if I did... I'm no engineer...'
"Wow... It used to be... Bigger... Why did the angels break it?" Jack pondered..
"They didn't break it... They scrapped it of its parts... And whoever did knows what they're doing. All the important stuff is gone..." Ajal sighed as he turned. "Those kids take priority for now I guess."
Jack gulped as he looked at Ajal, the intensity of his anger made the air feel heavy. "Are you okay?"
"These people... These... Angels... They've managed to annoy the hell out of me today twice, in record time too, that's impressive," he chuckled with grit teeth.
"Yeah... They're good at that," Jack muttered.
Ajal and Jack made their way back to the first room, but returned to a very different scene. The girl on the catwalk from earlier was on the lower floor, unconscious. Two other people who wore similar attire to her were trapped in stone and appeared to be knocked out, and the man from earlier was in combat with someone different.
This angel had a wide frame, a large stomach and well-defined muscles. His viciously swung fists clad in stone gauntlets at the red-haired man from before. His white dress shirt was opaque from sweat, but Ajal's eyes locked onto a green insignia of a fist on his chest. He wore armor made from stone which covered his body, 'That's not normal armor... That's a gift... One that uses stone... That's rare...' The red-haired man channeled spirit into his fist and punched the stone armor. The audible crack of the red-haired man's knuckle echoed through the room.
The red haired man curled forward, gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes. "Ahagh!"
"That's Bruno! He's Alexander Rael's first lieutenant, why is he here?" Jack stressed, he looked more worried than usual.
Ajal continued to calmly observe. "That Bruno guy has a gift which uses stone... However, that red-haired guy he's fighting knows a thing or two about spirit arts... This should be interesting..."
"You keep saying that, what the heck is spirit arts?" Jack asked.
Just as he asked the red-haired man dodged Bruno's fist. He aimed low and slammed his fist into the angel's knee. Bruno stumbled as he lost balance, the man roared as he tackled Bruno's leg and pushed him onto his back.
"I won't let you take my team!" he spat, his red beard seemed darker around his mouth.
'Is that blood? How long have they been fighting?'.
"I won't let you take this place! The demons need to be stopped! You're a fool if you can't recognize the threat they pose!" Bruno shouted.
Ajal noticed something silently fly into the garage and spread its wings out. 'Is that a person? And they have wings!' She wore similar clothes to Bruno but was much slimmer. Two of the feathers on her wings bent towards the red-haired man and shot forward. 'Huh- Wait... Is that a gift or are they real?'
"Again with the bullshit! It gets old you know... The demons haven't attacked any-"
"Look out!" Jack shouted as the two black feathers hit the red-haired man's ankle.
"Ah!" the rugged man cried out in pain.
'He's going to lose at this rate...' The red-haired man cried in pain, he lost focus for a moment. Bruno kicked him in the chest and knock him back. But a rock jutted from the ground underneath his feet, pushing him back in for a finisher.
"Fool!" said Bruno.
Stones floated towards Bruno's fist and encased it. Ajal grasped the rail and jumped over, he leaned off the edge and kicked off towards the two. Bruno swung his fist of rock. Before it could connect, he felt Ajal's entire foot pressed into his stomach.
"Rgh!" Bruno gasped.
Ajal's foot crashed through the stone armor. An audible crack in Bruno's ribs could be heard. Ajal pushed his foot forward, launching the large man out of the front entrance of the building. Bruno flew backward and bounced off the ground, his body tumbled and slid against the dirt until he collided with the wall of the outer gate with a massive crash. Bruno gritted his teeth, writhing from the sudden shock of pain, he grasped his side and tried to steady his breath. 'Ah crap, did I hit him too hard? I thought his stone would be stronger... But he didn't use any spirit to defend...'
The slim woman with black wings flew to his side, she also had the green insignia of a fist above her chest. 'Their gifts are very different... Does hers even have an element? Or are those just plain wings? Their clothes... Are they a similar rank?'.
"Agh!" Bruno coughed up blood.
"Bruno! Are you alright!" she knelt next to him.
"That's Vivian! She's also a member of House Rael!" Jack shouted from the catwalk.
Vivian turned back to the warehouse as she pulled Bruno's arm over her shoulder. The red-haired man pulled the sharp quills out of his legs.
"Who are you? How'd you do that?" the red-haired man asked curiously.
Ajal ignored him and walked toward the two lieutenants.
"Are you the ones in charge of this place," Ajal asked, his intense gaze terrified Vivian.
"You're... A demon? No... But those clothes? State your name heathen!" Vivian shouted.
Vivian stood up and one of her wings extended outwards. 'That again...' The wing was at least twice the length of her arms. Ajal noticed two feathers on her wings bend. 'It's coming...' Ajal moved his body as she shot the feathers at a high speed. He weaved between the two of them effortlessly.
"What!" Vivian skipped a breath as he dodged the high-speed projectiles.
"Heathen? The name is Ajal," he said calmly as he walked toward her.
"How did he dodge that..." Vivian whispered to herself with wide eyes.
"Vivian... don't fight hi-" Bruno coughed up blood which spilled out of his mouth into the palm of his hand. "He's far stronger than us!"
Bruno took a deep breath and clenched his teeth, then put his palm on the ground. The ring on his hand glowed an orange light and a pillar of stone beneath the two erupted. The two angels were carried into the sky on the platform. When they were high enough, Vivian jumped off the pillar of rock with Bruno's arm over her shoulder. Her wings spread and flapped rapidly as she tried to escape. Ajal ran toward the pillar and his third eye flashed purple. His body was engulfed in a black-and-white flame. He slipped into the shadow cast by the pillar, as if it was liquid.
A dark mark on the shadow moved up the stone pillar, Ajal slipped out of the mark and pulled himself onto the top. Then crouched and focused his spirit into his foot, igniting it and jumping high into the sky. Higher than Vivian and Bruno, the top of the pillar broke from his step. He descended toward Vivian as she glided away. 'It's a good thing that guy is heavy!' Ajal grinned as he descended from above, while a scythe formed in his hand. More wisps of black-and-white flame shrouded the tip of his blade. He spun his scythe and held it overhead. Vivian turned to see Ajal right above her, but it was too late. The air wished, as he cleaved one of her wings off and descended to the ground.
"Aaah!" Vivian screamed.
Vivian lost control of her flight, the black-and-white flame burned on the severed wing. Vivian flailed in the air. Her wing stretched outwards, attempting to flap, but unable to generate the force or balance to stay in the air. 'Dark Passage!' Ajal descended back down and his body was engulfed in the black and white aura once more.
As he hit the ground and fell into the shadow, he reappeared at the severed wing still above Vivian and Bruno. Vivian tried to flap her wings to slow her fall. Ajal flipped his scythe in hand and channeled his spirit into the back of his scythe. 'Spirit Ignition!' Ajal swung the back of his scythe down, slamming the two of them down to the ground with it.
"Agh!" Vivian gasped.
Vivian let go of Bruno and the two of them crashed into the hill not too far from the building. Ajal landed on the grass, and he slid slightly down the slope. Vivian's last wing dissipated before she mustered all her strength to conjure them again.
"Vivian... Run..." Bruno coughed up more blood, he was barely conscious. "You can't escape with me... He's too strong... Just... Get... Alexander!"
Vivian nodded with a look of fear in her eyes as Ajal approached. She wasted no time, spreading her wings and taking flight. She wobbled slightly in the air from the pain, but she reached a high speed quickly. 'There's no way I can get her if she's moving that fast...' Ajal thought as he walked up the hill.
"Damn," said Ajal.
"Serves you right... Damn... Demon..." Bruno uttered.
"Demon?" Ajal turned to Bruno.
The angel was already unconscious. 'I might have gone overboard... I think I broke his ribs... Shit, I hope he isn't dying...' Ajal lifted Bruno by the collar and dragged him back into the building, Jack came around the side.
"Dude..." Jack looked like he had a lot to say, but was speechless as he looked down and saw the first lieutenant of House Rael, unconscious. and being dragged by the collar.
"Holy shit, he's dead... I thought you didn't want to kill anyone?" said Jack.
"He's not dead... That girl with the wings got away," Ajal mentioned.
"He looks de- Wait what... She's gonna get Alexander Rael! And the other nobles!" Jack shouted in terror.
"Yeah, that sucks," Ajal replied nonchalantly and dropped Bruno on the dirt, and walked back into the building. "Tie him up or something..."
"We're doomed..." Jack's put his palms on his forehead in distress.
"There some rope by the wall we jumped over," Ajal replied as he walked into the building. "Hurry up, we don't want him waking up..."
The red-haired man who fought Bruno tried to wake the girl up from earlier who was unconscious. Ajal walked past them towards the large stone door which led to the room with the children in it. He grasped the crack of the door and jammed his fingers between them, he channeled his spirit into his fingertips, then pried it open with his bare hands.
"That was... What Arken taught us, but so refined... Who are you? Why are you here?" Reinhardt commented on Ajal's use of spirit arts with an expression of shock.
Ajal walked into the room and looked around.
"My name is Ajal and that's Jack over there, we came here looking for my ship, and I found it, it was torn apart and stripped. So now I'm here to help these kids. Who are you and why are you here?" Ajal returned the question.
"We're part of the non-unified resistance- Jack... Did you say Jack?!" The man's jaw dropped as he turned and looked toward him. "Him!? You!? You're... You're Jack Eldritch!" the man shouted in shock.
"Uh... Yeah?" Jack replied awkwardly.
He stood up quickly despite his injuries, his feet wobbled slightly. "You're... You're the one... Who stood up to the angels, you brought Alexander Rael to his knees..."
"Uh..."
"But... You're just a child..." The man continued with a strange passion. "My name is Reinhardt Yojic, you... If it wasn't for you... The resistance would never have regained hope..."
Ajal raised an eyebrow. He looked at Jack, but he had a similar expression. Jack looked over at Ajal and shrugged. As Ajal stared at Jack, he took notice of the change in the sky behind him. A blue gradient that darkened from east to west, the light descended over Jack and one of his eyes squinted slightly as he shielded himself from the sunlight. His hair was a little short and spiky, a greasy dark brown. The miners white skin was covered in asphalt and dirt. Jack scratched his head awkwardly as he looked down at Reinhardt.