Chapter 18: Ajal; Shauran 22rd; 344SR; 23:45
Ajal rested on the white bed in the darkroom of the hideout, the sweat on his back caused him to shift uncomfortably onto his side. 'Ugh...' He turned onto his front, and his back was licked by the cold air. He slept in the same room as Reinhardt, who occupied the other small bed in the room. An annoyingly comfortable snort echoed through the room. 'I never would have thought he snores this loud... Well, I don't know why I'd ever think about how loud someone snores... I envy him though, alright... Attempt six...' Ajal shut his heavy eyelids once again, slowly drifting into his unconscious.
***
The birds chirped, as Ajal listened to the sounds of whirling wind. The gentle warmth of the sun caressed him and filled him with feelings of comfort. He opened his eyes to see that he sat on a pale yellow stone, inches away from an edge that peered over a sea of clouds.
"Gale! Gale!" A young child shouted, "Your friends here!"
"My friend? Go back inside, now..." Ajal heard Gale reply coldly.
'This was after... After Radion tried to invade Brie on direct order from Idyr...'
Ajal glanced to the right, he was seated halfway up a flight of stairs, inches from the edge over three hundred thousand feet straight down towards the Thieves Woods. Gale poked his head out from behind the entrance of the temple hidden in the sky.
Gale was four feet tall, 'If I recall correctly... He was thirteen at this time...' He wore no shirt and his hair was just a fuzzy layer of cut green hair, sweat rolled down his head. Gale squinted at Ajal, hatred the moment he saw him. In his hand was a green katana, far taller than himself, with a golden guard shaped like a moving cloud. He didn't seem to have any trouble holding it despite its size compared to himself. A green robe covered his legs down to the knees, and he walked barefoot on the stone.
"The hell do you want? How did you get through the forest..." Gale scorned.
"The view up here is incredible, and the air is fresh," Ajal replied.
"Terrific. Now leave."
"No."
"Piss off!"
"You're a prick."
Gale squinted at him before he walked back into the temple.
"Who is it?" A young girl asked Gale with a curious tone in her soft voice.
"The god of death..." Gale replied.
"Huh? Why is he here? Is he here for me?"
"He isn't here to fight Sora... The wind didn't warn me, he'll probably leave on his own," Gale replied.
Ajal looked down in thought. 'Heh... Punk...' He continued to wait on the step, following his memories exactly as they were. It felt like hours passed quickly. Ajal looked back up at the blue sky to see it darkening by the second, the sun crept behind a land mass far above.
Ajal stood up and turned to walk up the stairs, only to see a little girl with short white hair watching him from the top of the steps. 'I didn't notice her?' She wore a green robe that covered her from the neck down, and her toes poked out from under the excess clothing. 'That robe is way too big for her... Then again... No one else has been up here for a long time... Just her and Gale.'
"I take it you must be Sora, the goddess of wind," Ajal bowed his head.
"Yeah, are you really the god of death? I didn't know there was a god of death, does that mean there's a god of life?" She rambled.
"I'm not a god... I'm Imperion's Divine Being, I can understand why the two titles get mixed up though," Ajal explained.
"Same!" Gale shouted from within the temple, and shortly after a metallic crash echoed from within. "Ah, dammit..."
Ajal and Sora both turned to the door, he found it funny, however, the young goddess didn't seem to think the same.
"Sorry..." Sora apologized.
"Huh? About what?"
"Gale... He's usually nice to me, but he hates outsiders..."
"Makes sense..."
"He thinks he doesn't need friends, but I think he's lonely..."
Ajal looked at her face, her expression full of sorrow. He walked up the steps and passed Sora, peering through the large gateway, only to see a field of dead bodies. His heartbeat quickened as he walked forward.
"What is this? What happened here!" Ajal asked, his comfort immediately switched to worry.
He turned to Sora, however, she was gone. Ajal looked across the room and saw Gale cry over the corpses. As Ajal walked forward, Gale stood, still holding the katana in hand. 'Gale- what the... I can't,' he tried to speak but couldn't. Gale turned to him.
He wasn't a kid anymore. The Gale that Ajal fought in the church was now in front of him. An elite Imperial uniform. White cape, red on the inside with a collar made from Tundra Wolf fur. The black leather jacket, grey pants. Gale drew his green katana and ran forward, the gold of the hilt reflected light and seemed to blur the world. Ajal looked down, he wore the same clothes. 'I used to wear this proudly too... Am I no different... An Imperial scum?' Like cutting through the air, Gale's sword pierced Ajal, but he felt no pain at all.
***
Ajal sat up quickly, his head groggy, and tears flooded out of his wide eyes. 'Another failed attempt at sleeping...Should I even try a seventh time?' He rubbed the tears out of his eyes. 'I've never been an insomniac, so why is this happening?' He looked over to the left, Reinhardt wasn't in his bed, the white sheets had been moved to the side. He could hear the mumbled voices of others talking, his eyes felt a little lighter, but the overwhelming urge to roll back into bed was powerful.
"I could barely sleep again... What's wrong with me?" Ajal rubbed his eyes as he muttered to himself.
Ajal pulled himself out of the bed, took his top from underneath the pillow, and put it on. He pulled the black shirt on as he approached the door. The fabric hugged the sweat on his skin and stuck to it uncomfortably. 'I miss the bed already...' He walked over to the hall where the others were in, as he felt an uncomfortable hunger in his stomach.
"Morning Ajal!" Franklin shouted with oats in his mouth.
"Why do you chew with your mouth open?" Jack asked, but no one heard.
"Hey, I was about to wake you with some tea, have at it," Reinhardt slid a teapot and cup over.
"This!" Ajal quickly poured himself a cup, John looked at George and Ben as he did this.
Ajal immediately started drinking, and steam floated into his nose. 'This is so good after a night- no... Three days of no sleep...' The hot yet refreshing beverage gave him the wake-up needed. 'We just have to cross this stupid bridge right, I should be able to make this go smoothly.' He gulped the last of the tea down and got up.
"Is anyone drinking the rest of this?" Ajal asked.
"Nope, you can have the rest. By the way..." said John.
"Hm?" Ajal poured more tea.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why do you ask?" Ajal looked puzzled.
"We could hear you in your sleep..."
"I think you woke up three times before I passed out," Ben added.
"I heard four," Franklin spoke while he chewed on some oats.
"I woke up six times..." Ajal admitted.
"Six?!" Ben repeated.
"I can't sleep for some reason... But I should be fine with this," Ajal sipped the warm liquid.
"Maybe you don't feel like sleeping after you slept for over a year?" Jack suggested.
"I still feel tired, like I could fall over right now..." said Ajal.
"Will you be alright for crossing the bridge? We shouldn't meet much resistance, but it will be a long walk," Eckleflor asked.
"Yeah... I can handle it..."
***
After several glasses of tea, and after everyone had gathered their belongings, they quickly departed. Ajal touched the top of the latch, his fingertips felt a chill from the metal surface. He pushed it open and poked his head out to observe the surroundings. The sky was dark and obscured by, layers of grey clouds. The grass was hard to see, and the running water from the stream could be heard not too far away.
"The hybrids passed by back to Hiria earlier," Adam whispered from below.
Ajal stepped out of the hole and his third eye opened, immediately adjusting to the dark. The horses stood in front of the vacant caravan tied to a tree. Most likely asleep, Ajal approached them and their eyes seemed to open immediately, they were visibly anxious as he approached. They jerked against the reins of the caravan and attempted to get away, but he gently scratched their necks. 'I haven't seen a bug or an animal once except for these...Wonder what that's about... Are they extinct?'
Ajal immediately stretched his back and felt three cracks, 'I noticed it in my fight with those so-called angels, my body is stiff and I'm rusty... I shouldn't have had that much trouble against them...'
John and George climbed out of the hole, Jack followed but rather than approach the caravan he immediately walked towards the cliffside. Eckleflor approached and they discussed something. 'I still find it hard to trust Eckleflor... I asked Jack about him and he said he's fine... Maybe I'm wrong to be suspicious... I'm definitely not in the right mindset...' Ajal pondered to himself as the rest of them approached the caravan and climbed aboard.
"Hey, Ajal are you sure you're okay?" Sarah suddenly asked.
She stared at Ajal in the dark, 'Is it that obvious that I'm tired?' he rubbed his eyes in response and could feel the bags underneath them.
"Yeah... I'm fine," Ajal assured, his eyes quivering as he spoke.
"Hmm, well... Don't worry 'cause I was practicing that spirit control stuff all night!" Sarah raised her fist up high.
"Yeah well leave any fighting to me 'cause you need a lot more practice," Ajal rubbed his eyes once more.
"Oh..."
John and Franklin started laughing their hearts out and Sarah frowned.
"Shut up! I'll show you how much I've trained," the short girl threatened.
"Don't be stupid-"
"Bring it on!" Franklin shouted over Ajal.
'Nevermind...' Ajal walked away, towards Adam, Ben, and Reinhardt.
"I'm gonna scout out the bridge, I'll slip passed the gate," said Ajal.
"I don't see any lights in the guard towers," Adam pointed at the front of the bridge.
There were two tall towers at the front gate to the bridge, it was about one hundred meters away, down the hill from the hideout. Ajal focused his spirit to his head, 'Spirit Sense!' He scanned everything in a large radius. There was a strong spirit to the north at the edge of his radius, Ajal looked in that direction and saw nothing but trees. 'Could they be watching us? No... it's too far.' There wasn't a single spirit at the front of the bridge.
"They're probably asleep," said Ben.
"They always have someone watching," said Adam.
"I sense spirit over there... Quite a few..." Ajal asked.
"We might be in for a fight..."
"Alright, one thing though," Ajal pointed north to the side of the mountain far past Ulkay. "A few people are watching us, one of them is strong... And from that angle, I think they might be angels..." Adam and Reinhardt turned to the mountain, Ajal pointed to the trees at the top of a hill to the right of the town.
"What? How do you know that?" Ben asked.
"Spirit Sense, it's a much more difficult technique but it can be used to detect other spirits or traces of ether in a certain radius," Ajal explained.
"Can you tell who it is?" Adam asked.
"No. I can only sense two spirits though, one is stronger than the other... I can't really identify it, but if it's big enough sometimes it's recognizable.."
"Wait... Isn't that bad then? Should we stop," said Ben.
"Well, if they are watching us... They already know where we're hiding now..." said Adam.
"Huh- Hold on... I think... I think they know I pointed at them... They're moving away, they must have binoculars..."
Ajal turned and walked towards the bridge, forming a black staff in hand with a curved blade at the end.
"Everyone get ready! Eckleflor, Jack were gonna scout out the bridge," Ajal commanded
Ajal's other hand was engulfed in a black and white aura, 'Dark passage.' He touched the blade of the scythe and the aura engulfed it. Then grabbed the bottom of the handle, holding the scythe towards the sky. Ajal leaned back with a step and then whipped it with a downward flick of the wrist. The weapon soared towards the bridge, as it spun in the air he turned to Jack and Eckleflor who were walking towards him.
"What- what was that?" Jack asked.
"I have access to a lot more abilities during the night, and I have unlimited natural darkness to work with. But during the day, especially in harsh sunlight a lot of those abilities would disappear in seconds," Ajal explained.
In the distance the scythe pierced the ground, it was too far away to be heard. The end of the weapon stuck up into the air.
"But the benefit is, dark magic becomes stronger in the dark, so the abilities I do still have are amplified," Ajal added.
"What exactly did you do?" Eckleflor asked.
The weapon in the distance disappeared. 'Dark Abyss,' Ajal's third eye released the black and white wave that passed through everything. Ajal closed his eyes and let the energy in the area flow through him, the darkness, light, the trace ether in the environment. Jack and Eckleflor looked at him in confusion as they examined the monochrome world. It all receded back into Ajal's third eye, as it closed and he opened his eyes, they were bright purple instead of red.
"This ability is a combo of two of my six abilities, it's mainly for transport, I use a lighter version of an ability called Dark Assault, and that's how I form those weapons from the shadows. Dark Passage is an ability activated twice, the first use just activates the ability, the black and white aura you saw. It attaches to the surface it touches, and wherever it is, I can use Dark Passage again and teleport to that spot," Ajal explained.
"What about that thing you just did, where you took away all the color? What was that?" Eckleflor asked curiously, he was breathing heavily as his legs shivered.
"Just a second... Reinhardt! Adam! We're going on ahead," Ajal shouted.
Ajal knelt down and started manipulating the shadows around them. A black sphere formed around himself, Jack, and Eckleflor, engulfing them in darkness.
"Woah! What's going on?" Eckleflor worried.
"It's alright, calm down," Ajal stood up.
The shadows around them faded, they had heard nothing during the few seconds within. Jack and Eckleflor both looked around in shock as they realized they now stood where the scythe landed. At the start of the stone bridge in front of its gate. Jack ran to the edge and looked down at the stream, Eckleflor started laughing in disbelief. Ajal turned and looked at the gate, 'That's odd... Is this supposed to be open?' Jack crouched down over the spot where the scythe's blade pierced the bridge, and small wisps of black and white aura floated off of it.
"That other ability is called Dark Abyss, and it's incredibly straining," Ajal casually continued.
"Straining?" Jack repeated.
"It's hard to use it for more than a second, every second usually means I have to wait another thirty seconds before using it again. The ability rapidly absorbs ether around me and continues to spread forever, I usually use it for less than a second to disable someone's gift or ability."
"Disable... Gifts?! Ha... Haha! Amazing... Haha! That's absolutely amazing!" Eckleflor exclaimed.
Ajal looked at the bald man with a raised eyebrow. 'Where'd that enthusiasm come from?'
"Walk and be surprised, we got a long way to go," Ajal was already power walking up the bridge.
Ajal got a better sense of how wide the bridge was while he walked on it. He couldn't even see the other side over the peak of the arch halfway across. Eckleflor quickly walked to Ajal's side.
"So... Wait... What's your gift? You have multiple powers?! Nobody has ever had an ability like this in all of history! The ability to negate other abilities?!" Eckleflor stammered.
"I don't have a gift, I was born with these powers. If you think I'm human, just letting you know now, I'm not," Ajal replied.
"Human?" Jack whispered to himself.
"Human... That's a word I haven't heard in a long time," Eckleflor squinted at Ajal with curious eyes.
"Why do they call you non-unified anyway? Pretty sure everyone on the continent, even most of those angels are just humans," Ajal pointed out.
"Faith is... Fascinating, and symbolic," Eckleflor replied.
"Huh?"
"You'd think faith is a good thing, but faith is what got us to this point, a bunch of nobodies working impossible quotas, just for the leisure of others, as we cling to the faith that they are creating the best life for us."
"What do you mean? Working impossible quotas?" Jack quickened his pace to listen as well.
"Jack, you of all people should know what I mean. We mine logorite to support the angel's fight against the demons right? We dedicate our lives to agriculture to support the soldiers on the field, right?" Eckleflor raised his arms.
"I mean... That's what they say..." Jack replied
"I've seen where our hard work goes, and that's where we're going right now. Arken may have disappeared fifteen years ago, but the hybrid alliance still suffers from his crusade to this day, so how would they ever deal with the demons with this many problems on foreign soil? And there's something in regards to that as well, we've never confirmed contact with the demons for a long time, even longer than I've been alive, longer than my parents have been alive," Eckleflor rambled.
"We haven't been in contact with demons? What?!" Jack replied.
"Nope, in fact, the only person who may have had contact with the demons of Pandora is Arken Grehilia, the brother of the current queen of the hybrids. But he's most likely dead, no one knows for sure what happened to him. So it makes you ask the question, what is it the slaves are giving their lives for? What's the point of our mining, and faith in the great Celestial? It's all a lie, our faith is just a tool for them to exploit, made possible by that damn thing..."
Eckleflor pointed directly at the Celestial. 'I haven't ever heard him talk about something so strongly, he must really hate the life he had to live... He isn't the only one after all...' Ajal glanced at Jack, who had a clenched fist as he glared at the Celestial.
"On the other side is a defensive outpost controlled by soldiers from Baltin, I have a way around it, but we're going to ditch the caravan. I used to use this route while smuggling in and out of Kamino," Eckleflor explained.
"You were a smuggler?" Jack asked.
"Well, I suppose, not officially... I was always good at being stealthy. I'd prefer being called a Jack of all trades?" Eckleflor replied.
"A me of all trades?" Jack scratched his head.
"It's- a saying... That means he's good at multiple things. A person adept at many things, but a master of none," Ajal briefly explained as he walked in front.
"Yeah, that sums me up well," Eckleflor nodded.
'All the more reason to be skeptical...'
"Ajal sir, if you don't mind me asking-"
"Please don't call me sir," Ajal cut Eckleflor off.
"Uh- Ajal... you said that you were betrayed? How so?" Eckleflor asked,
"You wanna know about that?" Ajal looked up. "Imperion was initially controlled by archdragons, six major clans all possessed one of them. They were our world's harbingers, archdragons were odd, and they weren't like the regular dragons of Imperion. Each was assigned to a Celestial, and each was different. They were born weak initially, but grew in strength until not even the strongest ancient dragons could prey upon them."
"Harbingers?" Jack asked.
"Harbingers are the ones who lead the first people who arrive with the Celestials. However, their lives were finite. One of the archdragons was named Oreizus, he chose a man named Idyr as its champion. Due to Oriezus's coming demise, Idyr started a world war, have him conquer, and be on top before their passing... The blind fool didn't even realize he already was... I brought an end to that war... And the clans formed a system of government between each other, where the power to make decisions was also in the hands of those with less power.
"A democracy?" said Eckleflor.
"Yeah, similar to that," Ajal confirmed.
Jack scratched his head, he looked confused.
"I see... Did you hold any authority in that government?" Eckleflor asked, he appeared to be following along well.
Jack continued to scratch his head, this entire conversation was alien to him. As they continued to walk along the stone bridge, they approached the top of the arch. They hadn't noticed a pillar of smoke rising from the other side of the bridge.
"Well, I was offered... But... If I'm being honest... That isn't the life for me. So I declined," Ajal replied. "Maybe if... Maybe if I did take it up... Things would've gone better..."
"What happened? It seems like your society definitely handled itself better than ours," Eckleflor pressed the conversation forward.
"The problem with a democracy is, that you have to trust that the person chosen to represent the majority is actually representing that majority and not someone else or themselves. The power went from the weak to the rats amongst the weak who gained power during that time. Specific individuals who pioneered the progress and furthering of Imperion were also doing horrible things behind the curtains of their goodwill."
"I see," Eckleflor put a thumb on his chin. "Fascinating, another world out there, also plagued by the flaws of sinners."
"I tried to form a group of warriors who stood for the weak, multiple retainers from each clan who held good values. I tried to stop what was happening on Imperion with them, but they tried to kill me right after we succeeded..." Ajal recalled.
"After you succeeded?" Eckleflor questioned.
"Wait, you beat the bad guys, and then they went for you? Not you first?" Jack tried to follow along.
"Yeah... I want to go back to Imperion to at least find out why... They didn't say a thing when they attacked me..." Ajal looked down as he reminisced.
"I hope I don't sound rude, but that's stupid," Eckleflor replied, Ajal glanced at him with a surprised look. "Why don't you try to start a new life here? You clearly have the experience, the power, and you're already making positive change," Eckleflor suggested.
Ajal didn't answer. 'A new life? Here on Grelt...' He glanced left at the river, the channel became wider as it led to a large sea. To the right were several mountains, majestic in size on both sides of the river. The mountain on the right was further inland, it was the same mountain Jack mined in. The slimmer mountains to the left we're closer to the coast, the peaks shrouded in low-hanging clouds.
"Yeah I agree with Eckleflor, screw them if they betrayed you," Jack added.
Ajal continued to walk in front without answering.
"I wish forgetting my home, friends, and family were that easy... and I'm-" Ajal stopped as he took notice state of the fort on the other side.
"But it is! Just never look back-" Eckleflor also noticed.
'What...' Ajal's mouth hung as he looked over the arch at the other side of the bridge.
"What the..." Eckleflor uttered, he looked more confused than Ajal.
"What? What is it?" Jack ran up the last bit of the slope and looked at the so-called defense fort Eckleflor mentioned.
The front gate was ripped open, and the thick metal bars looked like they were torn open by something massive. Several bodies of soldiers in black armor were scattered around the bridge. They wore dark green robes above their armor. Some were missing limbs, and many of them lay in pools of their own blood. Ajal started running forward, curious to figure out what had happened. He looked to the right and noticed the railing of the bridge had been broken in several spots. One particular section of the railing along with a piece of the bridge had been completely pulled off it seemed. Claw marks of something appeared to have grasped the bridge to climb on top. 'Whatever this thing was, it definitely did that to the gate.' Ajal approached the gate and heard a large impact from the other side, it rumbled the bridge itself. Jack and Eckleflor stumbled, and Ajal only sped up.
"Ajal hold on!" Eckleflor ran forward.
Ajal knelt down next to one of the dead soldiers, his body was exposed through claw marks in the breastplate. Another body not too far away was mangled beyond comprehension, it appeared as if his breastplate was crushed. Several bodies were pinned to the wall by black chains that seemed to come from nowhere, and fresh blood dripped from their bodies. As Jack walked closer he realized something.
"Ajal, what the hell- what's going on... They're just floating in mid-air... Where are those chains coming from!" Jack shouted, clearly disturbed by the sight.
"That... Would be black magic," Ajal opened his third eye, 'Dark abyss.'
The chains dissipated off the bodies and the soldiers fell to the ground, Ajal walked over, knelt down next to one, and put two fingers on his muscular throat. His pulse had stopped, and his eyes had rolled to the back of his head. The soldier's mouth was wide open like he was screaming even after he died. Ajal looked around at all the bodies. A blood-curdling cry echoed through the sky, the grating and harsh noise from the other side of the fort. 'Looks like whatever did this is still here...'
"What was that!" Jack asked, his legs shaking.
"The blood is fresh... I should've realized sooner, they could still be around," Ajal mentioned.
A scream echoed through the air once more. Ajal looked at the top of the gate as two figures floated above it, 'Who- no... What is that?'
"What the fuck..." Jack started stepping back as the two figures floated upwards.
They appeared to be women wearing long dresses, their limbs unnaturally thin and their grey hair flowed in all directions. Ajal couldn't make out their face from that distance, but they appeared to have green eyes. Both held large staffs twice their height, and several crystal skulls hung off of the crooked end. They raised their hands outward, the staff continued to float next to them, and they let out the same blood-curdling scream.
"What the fuck!" Jack shouted in shock and fear.
"Jack, Eckleflor... Get back!" Ajal readied himself to fight.
The two strange women started to raise their staffs and circle it in the air, a shadow grew above them. Ajal heard metallic clangs and clinks from beyond the rubble of the broken wall. Skeletons with bright green eyes climbed over the debris and tumbled down. The humanoid figures were clad in ragged dark green clothing and broken silver armor. Part of their flesh still hung to the bone in various places, it seemed rare to notice bits of muscle, and even more, rare to see their skin.
Ajal started to charge his spirit, drew his scythe, and ran forward, to his surprise the skeletons spread out around him. 'Are these things conscious?' One lunged forward at Ajal and raised a curved sword to strike him, he raised his scythe to block and another skeleton from behind lunged forward. Ajal spun the scythe and swung it around him with a single swoop, beheading each skeleton. However, they simply stood back up without heads and charged forward again. 'Dark abyss!' The field spread around Ajal but didn't go very far this time, the skeletons charged forward through the wave.
"They aren't controlled by magic?" Ajal was cut off as chains from the cloud forming above him came down and ensnared him.
"Ah! Ajal!" Jack screamed.
"Get this off of me!" Eckleflor also cried out in panic.
Ajal turned his head to see Jack and Eckleflor ensnared in the air, they were slowly pulled by the dark cloud moving towards the women who floated above the gate. However, Ajal was not being pulled into the air like the two non-unified.
"Ajal! Help!" Eckleflor shouted as he dangled helplessly.
"What the hell... Stay away! Stay away from me!" Jack shouted and kicked at the woman.
"Dammit!" Ajal struggled against the chains.
'Why are they going after them first? And I can't use Dark Abyss over and over or else it won't be-' A set of massive thuds caught his attention. He heard something from the other side of the gate, the sounds of it only grew louder with each step. A chilling roar echoed through the sky, as behind the two women a massive skeletal beast stood tall over the fort.
"What... The fuck..." Ajal uttered as he broke the chains and landed on his feet.
The skeleton was over fifteen meters tall. Its giant claws gripped the top of the gate and pulled itself forward. With its other hand, it grasped the bridge, curling its sharp fingers through the stone as if it were dirt. The strangest part of all had to be its head, it crawled like a four-legged animal but had an enlarged human skull.
It lowered its head and then turned on its side. Its neck was too long to be a human neck, and it allowed the skeletal head to stretch in unnatural ways. It opened its mouth and began dragging itself along the ground towards Ajal. The monster's teeth shoveled up chunks of the bridge. Ajal jumped up to evade it but the creature's rib cage turned all the way around and faced the sky. He looked up as the beast's claw came down upon him. He raised his arms to block the jagged hand, it smashed into Ajal and launched him up into the air.
"Shit!" Ajal grunted, he felt a little pain.
Ajal's side ached from the impact, and he continued to soar up, he was at least fifty feet above the bridge. He could see the entirety of the setting down below. 'That thing hit me pretty hard! It's just bones but that... That felt like spirit arts?!' Jack and Eckleflor began to float back down somewhere past the gate with the two mysterious women. The other side of the gate seemed to have a circle of bodies surrounding a green fire, Ajal couldn't tell if they were alive or not. Reinhardt and the others were halfway to the top of the bridge's arch.
The massive creature pushed itself upright and squatted down. Ajal's eyes went wide as he watched the massive beast lunge off of the bridge into the air with an open jaw. He conjured a scythe, as it went for a bite. Ajal wedged the scythe between its jaw to stop it from chomping down. It continued to gnaw at the scythe as they both soared down and crashed into the water.
'Not good!' Ajal held his breath as the creature continued to bite down, the inside of its mouth was devoid of flesh, just an empty skeleton. He couldn't see anything in the dirty water but felt his back hit the floor of the lake. 'I had a feeling... the bottom of this river isn't even that far down...' Ajal focused his spirit into his foot and kicked it in the head before he swam back for the surface. The creature continued to gnaw at the staff with its head submerged. Ajal's bones ached as his head rose above the water, he rubbed his eyes as he looked around. He was floating down the stream away from the bridge.
"Dammit!" Ajal swam against the current.
He could hear panic from the bridge up above, however, the shouting was muffled as he heard water crashing behind him. 'Ugh...' Ajal turned in the water, kicking his feet as he continued towards the bridge slowly. The massive creature seemed to stand up straight, the water only submerged it up to the knees. It stared at Ajal before it stepped forward, its head bent forward and its mouth opened up once more, its green eyes seemed to dissipate, leaving only the hollow eye sockets of the skull. Instead, Ajal noticed a green light start to form in its mouth as its neck bent backward. It then let out a roar while releasing green flames from its mouth into the air, its eyes glowing a similar fiery green.
"Shut up... You're so damn loud," Ajal complained as he watched the spectacle of fire in the sky.
The massive beast lunged forward and grasped Ajal. It stood tall and raised him into the air, letting out a vicious roar as it held him. Ajal felt cramped as his arms were squeezed together. He opened up his third eye, looking down on the skeleton's head and the river. 'Dark... Blast!' a massive beam of purple energy, bigger than any of the others he's fired engulfed the head of the massive skeleton. The skeleton could be seen in the blast, dissipating into nothing but dust as it was vaporized by Ajal's attack.
The purple blast crashed into the river, releasing evaporated smoke in all directions. A massive crash could be heard as the purple beam hit the bottom of the river, and the water flowed outwards in all directions violently. A whirlpool formed, causing the water to start flowing toward the center. The remains of the skeletal creature flowed down the river and into the whirlpool. Ajal flowed with the river, he held his breath and dived down. He conjured a scythe in his hand under the water and then stabbed it into the river bed. The water flowed past him as he held himself secure, before long all the water had drained, leaving what was underneath the river all this time behind.
"I knew something was up..." Ajal thought as he looked around.
The ground wasn't natural, it had been built. All around Ajal were uneven stones that seemed to resist erosion. There were puddles of water everywhere, but no sign of washed-up sea life either. Ajal walked over to the hole he had made, it was perfectly round, and the edges of the rock had melted from the extreme heat. Ajal looked down and saw nothing but darkness. He kicked a pebble into the hole and waited, even after several seconds, no sound of it hitting the ground came back.
"Jack wasn't kidding... There's nothing down there..." he whispered to himself.
Ajal looked at his clothes which were now soaked in water and let out a sigh before he turned back to the bridge. The base of the bridge's pillars was not too far under where the water level was, he had noticed this yesterday when they arrived at the hideout.
"I didn't expect it to be this shallow... These two continents aren't very separated if it's just this between them... Whatever, I need to find Jack and Eckleflor before something bad happens..." Ajal ran towards the bridge.
He conjured two scythes in hand, jumping and latching onto the pillar of the bridge. His arms ached as he pulled his body weight up and climbed to the top. He had trouble just keeping his eyes open. 'I'm too tired for this...' As he looked up to his surprise, he watched as Reinhardt punched the face of a skeleton, grabbed both of its arms, and placed his foot on the chest. With a grunt, Reinhardt ripped the skeleton's arms off.
"These things don't stop getting up! Grab their weapons and take off their limbs and head!" Reinhardt shouted.
John distracted one skeleton while Sarah jumped on its back from behind. The two of them ganged up on the vicious skeleton, unaware of three more approaching. Ajal was about to run forward, only to see George and Adam run in to back them up, Ben and Franklin attempted to take down one much larger skeleton, that carried a large cleaver. Franklin attempted to use spirit control and punch it but he barely made a dent, Ben attempted to grab its leg but it simply looked down.
"Ben!" Adam shouted.
In a single moment, Ajal focused his spirit on his foot. 'Spirit Ignition!' Ajal kicked off the ground and launched a bit of the rail off the bridge. He soared straight towards the skeleton that stood over Ben, for some reason it hadn't attacked. Ajal smashed his foot into its head and launched it off the bridge.
"This is crazy... What are these things..." Ben breathed heavily
"Focus," Ajal instructed him as he offered a hand.
Ajal pulled Ben to his feet, he looked at the exposed river bed where there was a hole in the water.
"I should've stayed..." Ben whispered to himself.
Reinhardt focused his spirit into both fists as he clobbered a skeleton's head, smashing pieces of it off with each hit. 'At least Reinhardt seems to be getting it...'
"We can handle this Ajal! Help Jack and Eckleflor!" Reinhardt shouted.
"Right!" Ajal ran towards the open gate and jumped over the rubble.
Ajal looked over the hill of broken stones and metal to see the sight he saw from the sky. Several soldiers from Baltin suspended by chains surrounded a green flame. One of the women from earlier waved her staff around, the soldiers had their mouths open and eyes wide as a golden light seemed to exit from their mouths and into a singular mass. Ajal thought back to the skeletons that got back up. 'More black magic...' Ajal's third eye opened and released a black-and-white wave, dispelling the channel. The skeletal woman looked directly at Ajal and let out a harrowing scream, the sound screeched through the air as Ajal drew two scythes.
"You are hideous up close..." Ajal mocked.
Its skeleton was completely black but it had a thick head of long grey hair which soared in all directions, its green eyes had a bright blue glow beneath them locked onto Ajal as her jaw opened and rattled gibberish. 'It looks like a witch... Or a shaman of some sort... They seem to be able to call others.' Its thin hands held the staff up. Ajal noticed it still floated even after his dark abyss, he walked forward to fight as the crystal skulls on the staff started to rattle. Ajal threw the scythe at the skeleton and it spun through the air, slicing the staff and then splitting the skull of the woman in two horizontally.
"That was easy..." Ajal muttered.
He looked around at the surroundings, there were four walls around him, and in each corner, a tower. The corner in the back right of the small space was broken open. 'Where are they? ' The bodies of various hybrids littered the ground, they looked strange, some of them had normal heads, and others seemed to have altered horns or antlers. As Ajal observed them, the bodies started to rattle. 'What?!' All of the bodies of hybrids began to rattle erratically as a black skull mark appeared over their faces, they began laughing maniacally as their heads faded into skeletons, but their body remained. All of their eyes lit up green and their heads turned to Ajal.
"Holy shit... " Ajal uttered in shock. "I didn't stop it?!" Ajal stopped as his eyes felt heavy.
'Huh?' Ajal stumbled forward and almost fell but he used his scythe to support himself. His eyes felt heavy, his breathing even heavier. Every bone in his body ached. The fatigue was catching up to him, his scythe slipped out of his hands as he raised his head groggily at one of the soldiers from Baltin. The hair, skin, organs, and flesh on their skull were gone. All that remained was a large human-like skeleton with antlers growing out of it. It raised something above its head, Ajal looked up and noticed it was going to strike him before he fell out of the way, 'Damn! Stay awake!'
"Ajal! They're only going for you!" Sarah screamed from the other side of the rubble.
Ajal turned to see the skeletons he avoided earlier, they slid down the rubble and charged at him. He stood up and charged his spirit, 'I'd do anything just to go to sleep right now...' With his eyes closed he took a deep breath, the sound of the soldier's footsteps approached, and he conjured two scythes and stuck them into the ground. 'Spirit Ignition!' Ajal's focused his spirit into his core, Sarah climbed over the wall but stopped as she saw Ajal get swarmed.
"Spirit Manipulation..." Ajal slammed his palm on the ground and the purple energy went into the ground.
"Manipulation?" Sarah repeated to herself, John poked his head over the wall as well.
"Ajal!" John shouted as the possessed soldiers closed in.
Sarah and John climbed over the rubble and ran forward.
The purple energy erupted from the ground sending all of the approaching soldiers into the air. John and Sarah also found themselves off of the ground within a moment. Ajal grabbed both scythes and let out a grunt as he jumped up, and spun his scythes through the airborne soldiers. At the peak of his jump, he readied his scythes again and he spun through the crowd. It didn't even feel like he was cutting through anything.
***
Ajal's head felt light, and the soreness in his arms left, he opened his eyes, and to his surprise, he found himself in front of a campfire. It burned brightly as he stared deeply into it, a radiant heat smothered him like a blanket 'This is Nava... On Imperion... But... wasn't I on Grelt...' Ajal looked around the area and saw the walls of a cave, the ground was either covered in snow or rock. He looked around the fire and saw his friends.
"Master Rul would never fall for the archbishop's bribe..." said Titan.
The large man wore lots of robes, at his left, a massive silver halberd leaned against the rock he also had been leaning against. A silver mask with a single hole covered his face. He raised his metal hands covered in gears and machinery towards the fire, seeking heat but feeling nothing.
"But still, where would Master Rul have gone at this time, and for this long? I'm certainly worried for him..." Aria discussed with Kadyr at the other side of the campfire.
Aria sat on her knees in front of the fire, she held a drink in her hands as the flame reflected against her with bright yellow eyes. A thick jacket rested around her shoulders, however, her hands weren't through the sleeves. She wore a grey shirt and pants under the jacket.
"Who cares about that? Ajal and Ava really kicked ass back there! You two have been especially close recently... A little... Too close," Crystal said with a hint of curiosity.
The white-haired woman continued to chug the can of beer with red cheeks, the alcohol getting the better of the normally cold woman. Her jacket was several meters behind her. The tomboyish woman leaned back and stared at Ajal with a smug smile and a raised eyebrow. She wore a white tank top as well as black shorts.
'Ava?' Ajal's heart froze as he turned his head to the left, and he was met with Ava's soft smile. Her cheeks glowed a light red, she was clearly embarrassed as she looked down. Ajal started to breathe heavier, the memories of what happened before he left Imperion flooded his mind. Ava glanced toward him, her purple eyes seemed larger than normal as they peered into his soul for seconds that felt like an eternity.
"Ajal? Is something wrong," Ava asked.
Ajal reached forward and slid his hand under Ava's purple hair. It was smooth, he could almost count the individual strands brushing against his skin. His hand slid down her chin as he looked her in the eyes. 'Ethereal's have such vivid eyes...' The clouds bellowed a low rumble. The first droplet of rain hitting Ajal's head broke him out of his trance.
"Why..." Ajal uttered.
Tears flowed down his face, and rain began to pour down rapidly. The flame's light weakened and diminished, leaving Ajal in the darkness, alone.
***
"Ah!" Ajal cried as he tried to get up and headbutted both Sarah and John
"Ah!" John fell over.
"Ow?!" Sarah cried.
"What happened!" Ajal looked around frantically.
"What the hell was that for!" Sarah shoved Ajal.
Ajal looked around, the soldiers' bodies were all on the ground once more, some of them whole, others sliced into multiple pieces.
"You did that cool move and then... Well... How do I put this... You fell flat on your face," John explained.
"Really?" Ajal raised his eyebrow.
Ajal rose off his back and looked around, there was another gate across from the destroyed one, it hadn't been touched yet. Ajal quickly got up and ran towards the gate and jumped up, he conjured his scythes to climb up the wall quickly 'It was only a little bit of sleep but I feel a lot less tired...'
As he got to the top he looked at the vast landscape. Straight ahead to the west of the fort was a large wall that seemed to surround a set of mountains. North of the fort, beyond a small lake, was a lush forest. Further behind that were tall skinny mountains with thick clouds shrouding them. To the south was yet another set of mountains sitting upon the same risen land as the large wall. 'That's quite a few mountains...' Ajal looked around for Jack and Eckleflor but couldn't see anything.
"Ajal! I found something!" John called from inside the fort.
Ajal turned and jumped back down, he looked left and right but couldn't see John anywhere. There were several watch towers in each corner of the fort, and the entrance to one of them was destroyed. As Ajal approached an awful and pungent scent stung his nose, 'That smells like the gutters of Solron...' Ajal cringed as he walked through, he found Sarah and John looking into a hole through the floor.
"What'd you find? I can't find Jack and Eckleflor, they didn't go passed the fort..." Ajal informed them.
"They're definitely down there..." John said.
"How do you know?" Ajal asked.
John turned around and opened his palm, revealing a golden ring with a yellow gem embedded into it. The same one Jack had shown them after they fled from Logos.