Chapter 227

The Legend Begins (VII)

The war began with the roar of the bells and the kindling of the first fire, alighting the world better than the overhead, shining gems. It was abrupt, chaotic, spontaneous, yet at the same time appeared wholly orderly and in control. It was as though there was an intrinsic understanding between all the Kingdom’s powers on when and where to move out to, who to fight and who to ignore, which places to attack and which places to avoid.

As Cain suspected, Qyne’s compound was one of the first to get surrounded-- by three independent forces, no less. There were roughly four hundred armed men and women on the outside of the short and ragged walls, appearing ready to storm and kill everyone within the walls.

Guards standing on top of the ramparts swallowed nervously; they were just hired help, hardly men of the same cloth. Even if they quite liked people here, as most of them were extremely friendly and easy-going, it didn’t mean they were quite ready to battle it out to death against Royals and Merchants for them.

“Withdraw,” a familiar voice drew their attention over, where they saw the group’s leader walking up toward them, a frown etched on his face. By his side were six other people, all armored to the teeth, appearing extremely casual. “Return to your families and hide. This war... is not yours.”

“Sir--”

“Go,” Qyne added quickly. “If you want to help us, then pray for us.”

“... thank you, Sir.” the guards graciously nodded their heads in gratitude before leaving.

“So? You think you can take them on?” Qyne turned nervously to the man standing next to him; he had the ebony skin and was tall, a pair of piercing, black eyes indifferently looking down. “Isn’t it too much for just you six? Where is Cain?”

“Oi,” Jamal gently slapped the back of his head. “How can you be that doubtful straight in my face? Chill, man. We got this. Right, girls? Damn, I always wanted to say that...”

“You always wanted to say... that?” Senna quizzed with a strange expression; Emma merely chuckled, while Elypso, Yuki, and Lek simply stayed silent. “You’re one weird dude.”

“Khm, anyway, don’t you worry about any tiny thing, Qyne,” Jamal said. “We’ll whoop their asses in no time. I’m more worried about other groups. You see, they don’t have me.”

“Brag a bit less; they’re entering the attack position,” Emma warned, stiffening her laughter. “So, how do we do this? Methodical--”

“Let’s just jump down and kill them,” Senna shrugged.

“... our task is to buy time.” Emma said, though the look in her eyes betrayed her desire to do the same. In fact, it has been quite some time since they got to actually fight without any reservation. Though the opportunity was ‘never there’, she suspected it was by Cain’s design in large part.

“Buy time for what?” Senna shrugged. “It was just his way of telling us ‘oi, take it easy’. It’s time to liberate yourself!”

“You’re starting to sound like the early-morning radio show host yapping on about expressing yourself for the fiftieth morning in a row.”

“Just how old are you to still be listening to radio?” Senna quizzed. “Damn.”

“You wanna be grounded? ‘cause that’s how you get grounded.”

“Ah, an ancient meme from an ancient woman,” Senna said with a smile.

“Yeah, I kinda walked into that one,” Emma sighed, relenting. “Fine, I guess. We’ll just go balls-to-the-walls. Yuki, make sure you’re topping us up because I don’t think any one of us will care much for defending.”

“U-uh, sure... I think?” Yuki replied, startled.

“Lek, always have some of your soldiers on the stand-by at our rear in case they try to completely surround us. Otherwise, just, I dunno, summon archers and mages to shoot stuff at them from the distance.”

“Yes, Master.” Lek nodded respectfully and excitedly. This was, after all, his first time properly fighting ever since his defeat at Emma’s and others’ hands. Even he wanted to experience the extent of his powers.

“Elypso,” Emma turned to the last of the three in the back. “You... what do you wanna do?”

“Uh, kick some ass?” Elypso replied candidly. “Down below, I mean.”

“Oh, okay then. You and I will take the front then, with Senna and Jamal taking flanks. Lek will have our rear, and Yuki... will do Yuki things.”

“Keep you alive, you mean?!! Say it! Just say it!”

“Yea, yea, yea. Let’s just do this.” a mere moment later, in front of Qyne’s widened eyes, four tossed themselves off the wall fearlessly, landing gently and roughly onto the ground, rocking it.

Qyne felt his heart stir; even as a man with some skill in words, he was speechless sat the sight-- it was almost painterly, a small group of four standing fearlessly against the raging army. Poetic, beautiful, haunting and harrowing. It would become a legend, he knew. Eyes were not blind to this sight, as ears will not be deaf, and lips mute. Ink will not have dried before the song was sung by the Kingdom’s bards, and tale retold by the midwives. And he was there. For the first time in his life, he was there. No, not for the first-- for the only time in his life.

Legends are legends and myths are myths for a reason-- those lucky few who ever get to see them, to experience them, always know. They know they’ve seen the history in the making, as did Qyne, standing on top of ramparts, looking down upon the sight that will be remembered for cycles to come. Conquerors, tales were told, are tame, lame, cowardly, and afraid; they are cunning, ruthless, always outnumbering the natives as that was the only way they knew how to fight. Yet, the tale was spun and twisted.

Emma and Elypso were the first to burst forward, uninhibited, raging out with fires and doused roars; their voices seemed to startle the men facing them as they took a step back. It was a step that doomed them, Qyne knew. A fight could not be fought while encased in fear; however, who was he to preach? He was also terrified: the onslaught of Mana, so pure, so raging, so violent, so free, stirred his own into hiding.

A massive hammer and a massive sword were met with what looked to be wooden sticks, breaking apart alongside the bodies holding them and the earth upholding the bodies themselves. Debris flew out violently, screams quickly concocting a symphony.

Legends could not be fabricated-- not the true legends, anyway. They came from embellished truths, and Qyne knew today would be embellished even further. In the tale, they’d face an army of ten thousand. Among them would be evil warlords, murderers, rapists, ills of the world. And they’d be the heroes fighting for a greater good, selflessly. In the tale, they’d try to persuade their enemies with words of wisdom. There would be a sky above. A sun. A wind. Or perhaps even rain. No, there would be thunder and lightning. Ominous. Dark.

Qyne’s eyes suddenly drifted away from Emma and Elypso and onto the ebony-skinned man; in contrast, his blade was milky-white, shining like the legendary stars above stars. He danced the beautiful, enthralling dance; amidst the milky-white, eyes would barely register the shower of crimson red, the spraying blood, the cleaved bodies toppling over onto the ground like the figurines.

However, even amidst the trio that was an army in and of itself... one stood out. Having his eyes pulled away from the breathtaking starlight, Qyne saw the youngest of them all -- a child by all accounts -- standing on top of a sword, hovering above the entire battlefield like an ineffable entity. Surrounding her was an army the size of the one she was fighting -- swords, polearms, axes, staves, spears... unlike the breathtaking sight of the starlight, this one was... cold. Indifferent. Frigid.

Weapons flew and with them did the heads, one by one, like the reaping commenced by Death itself. All this... without her having ever moved a single finger. She remained afloat her sword, in place, her clothes gently swayed in the wind of her own making, the locks of her golden hair fluttering, her eyes iced and glazed in azure.

“... Jesus, I’ve never felt so useless ever in my life,” Yuki mumbled bitterly. Though he was told to ‘keep them alive’, none of them took any damage. And even the one that did, Emma, just healed it back up in a nanosecond. So quickly, actually, that Yuki barely even registered the health loss as it was back up to full immediately “And I played a power forward in high school next to a seven-foot center. I always knew they were holding back but... ‘ey, Lek, were they this strong when they fought you?”

“No,” the young boy replied, also feeling bored. His ‘soldiers’ remained underground at the group’s rear, but rather than encircling them, the surrounding army looked more ready to bolt it as far away as physically possible. “I think. I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I was super strong back then,” Lek said. “Now I’m weak like you. And useless to boot.”

“... where is this sharp tongue of yours when Emma or Cain are around?”

“Heh,” Lek smirked condescendingly, causing a vein to pop free on Yuki’s forehead. He realized that there really wasn’t a ‘soft-spoken’ person in Cain’s group. Everyone was an egomaniac, no exceptions. Yet, somehow, he alone managed to reign in the whole bunch and make them seem normal. Wait, wait, no--I’m normal!! That’s right! I’m not an egomaniac!

“Hey, get hurt already, goddammit!! I didn’t get to show off at all!! You’re making me seem useless!!”