Chapter 14: Alexander; Shauran 20th 344SR; 20:00

Alexander laid flat on his back, white dots painted the colorful sky. A vivid blend of a thousand shades of red and blue swirled together and filled the void of space. He tried to stand, reaching for the grass and dirt of Logos, but felt a cold stone instead against his hands, 'Stone?'

Alexander sat upright and looked around, he couldn't see far through the dark, but as his eyes adjusted he noticed the ground stretch out for miles in all directions. He pushed himself up and noticed a black circular silhouette in front of him, the object towered over him as he stared up at it, a pair of steps scraped against the ground behind him. He turned his head to see a young adult step forward, he had brown hair and a scrawny figure, average height. A tear had fallen from under his eye, his expression horrified by something. Alexander recognized him immediately, 'Jack!'

"..." Alexander's mouth opened but the words didn't come out.

He tried to grasp his face, but the tips of his fingers felt numb, in fact he couldn't feel anything at all. He looked forward at Jack who stepped through a circular silhouette and disappeared. 'What is this- what's happening!' Alexander Rael looked around, before he turned and noticed an up right rectangular silhouette behind him. It was too dark to make sense of what it was. As he walked forward the figure in front of the silhouette came into view. A massive red blade with a black hilt and a golden guard, stabbed deep into the ground. The silhouette seemed to become larger and Alexander heard a monstrous rumble shake the entire world as the figure of a hand grasped the armrest of a throne.

"It's been a long time, it appears you've lost your way," a voice suddenly spoke from the darkness in front of him.

'What- who is that...' Alexander could no longer move, his body was frozen in fear.

"Wake up Oaraun, I have a job for you."

Suddenly the silhouette of the throne and the man sitting in it began to move further and further away, the sword became smaller and smaller as the distance between them grew. Alexander felt himself get dragged away faster than he could blink, until he fell into a wooden rocking chair, he gasped the arm rests in panic, he looked up at a shovel stabbed into the ground in front of him as sweat dripped down his face. A gentle breeze washed over a field of vibrant flowers, it cooled his skin that the intense sun smothered. Alexander listened to the sounds of his heavy breaths, the entire time he was in front of the silhouette, he didn't realize that he couldn't breathe.

"Dear? Is everything okay?" he heard a soft feminine voice behind him.

Alexander jumped out of the seat and turned around, 'Huh...' as the seat rocked back and forth, he was fixated on the woman in front of him. He felt something inside him, he recognized the feeling, but it had been so long since he last felt it. 'What is this... Is my life flashing before my eyes? No... this isn't me, I don't remember this...'

The woman walked forward quickly, Alexander's heart beat quickly, 'Why can't I look up! Who are you! Stay back! Stay back!' He could only look down at her feet poke out from under her lime green dress, her frail bare feet quickly thumped against the grass, soon her white shirt came into view. When Alexander saw her stomach, he felt something click in his head. 'She's pregnant... who is she?' The woman carelessly descended down a steep hill into his arms, the five foot woman suddenly entered his plain of sight and put her gentle hand on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her gently.

"Alex? Is everything okay?"

Her expression showed her worry, she had smooth pink lips, bright blue eyes, thin eyebrows and a big forehead. Her long blue hair swayed in the wind, the gentle breeze returned, she closed one eye as the wind blew strands of hair in front of her face. 'Lavera, that was her name...'

"Alexander? What's wrong? You look pale? Do you feel ill?" Lavera asked.

"I'm- i'm fine... just... I feel like I woke up from a long dream," Alexander sighed.

"Oh... what was the dream about?"

Alexander looked up at the clear blue sky, there was a cabin made from logs in the middle of five tall trees, all around the field of grass we're the stumps of trees that Alexander cut down. Directly south west from where they stood, down the hill at the base of the mountain they stood upon, a massive kingdom built from white stone bathed in the light with a majesty like none other.

"I was... on top of the world, looking at a sky full of lights," Alexander explained with a confused tone, still trying to piece together what he saw himself.

"A sky- full of lights?" she curiously replied.

"A rainbow of colors as far as the eyes could see, vivid sparkles of white sprinkled across it. There was a boy named Jack... he was afraid, but not of me... but he disappeared, and all that remained was the man in the throne and me. That's when he called me, 'Oaraun...'"

"Oaraun? The king of Logos? What's that supposed to mean?"

"King of- of Logos?!" Alexander's eyes lit up.

"Yeah? King Oaraun, from the Kingdom of Logos? That one over there," Lavera pointed towards the kingdom Alexander looked at before.

Alexander looked at the majestic castle once more, it's size was surreal. 'Kingdom of Logos? What... what's- wait... where am I... I was fighting that man... but, what is that castle, where did it come from?! It dwarfs Helios in size...' The massive citadel had a circular outer wall surrounded by a town, the circular outer wall was divided by four massive overpasses that stretched between the inner citadel and the the outer wall. At the other end of the city was a forest of massive trees, to its left the vast ocean of Grelt. To the right, and between the mountains and the forest was another city nestled into a valley. In the opposite direction of the kingdom, a sea of white clouds surrounded all of the mountains. Alexander stared at the kingdom in awe, then let go of Lavera to sprint along the path down the mountain.

"Alex? Alex where are you going?!"

'That overpass looks like the quickest way to the citadel! I have to find out what's going on, is this a dream?' Alexander looked down, his brown boots we're hard to run in. As he looked up he was shocked to see the citadel right in front of him. 'What?!' he turned around and looked back at Lavera but instead he saw the mountain he stood on in the distance. He now stood on the overpass he looked at earlier. He walked over to the stone rail patterned with carvings of skulls. Down below the overpass was a city of stone houses with green rooves, the people in the city all stood still with their hands outstretched for some reason.

"What are those people doing?" Alexander asked himself.

'What was I doing... I came here... to find out- how the fuck Logos became a castle!' Alexander conjured his greatsword in his right hand. He turned back to the citadel beyond a gate of stone at least three stories high. He started to run and gripped his blade with both hands, flame engulfed the sword and he jumped towards the gate, swinging the greatsword through it effortlessly. The metal cracked and jeered He broke through the gate and landed in front of a stair case into the citadel. He looked up the flight of stairs and grit his teeth.

"King!" Alexander screamed. "Where is the king of this land!"

He ran towards the first step, as he walked up the first few steps, he didn't notice as the next few steps we're the last and he was already at the top. 'Again?! What is that...' Alexander peered down the flight of stairs, he was at the bottom merely seconds ago. He stood in front of a massive door, at both sides of the gate was a cross made of sticks with a sack tied at the top, it seemed to be stuck into the ground. Alexander walked straight towards the door and put his hands against it, he pushed the heavy slabs and shoved the entrance open, the sun lit a path straight into the building.

"King!" Alexander grunted as he opened the doors.

The inside of the citadel appeared to be a staircase to another a large room. As Alexander walked in he noticed the light from the sun disappear. 'Who closed the-' he turned to discover that the door was gone, just more steps down another flight of stairs. Alexander looked back at the top of the stairs, breathing steadily each step with his blade in hand.

"King of Logos!" Alexander jumped to the last step and shouted out loud.

He entered a large hall, to his left and right we're pillars evenly spaced out with much space between each other, at the other end of the hall was a throne. Alexander squinted at the throne, one of those strange cross shaped sticks seemed to be there. He continued underneath an archway, the base of the archway was a strange shape, and carved of material Alexander didn't recognize. Above the throne was a dark green banner, it had the symbol of a skull and a triangular pattern along the borders.

As Alexander got closer to the throne he noticed something about the stick figure that bothered him. The silence was broken by the sound of his breathing and his foot steps. 'That's... a crown?' A golden crown sat on the sack at the top of the cross shaped stick figure. 'The people in the town... the guards... the king... are these things supposed to be people?' Alexander turned around and was startled to see the massive hall now filled with these stick figures.

"What the-"

"My subjects!" a woman called with a fierce discipline, her voice echoed around the room.

Alexander turned around and looked up to see a woman seated on the throne, wearing the crown that was originally on the stick figure. The throne was welded onto a raised platform, below the platform Alexander was dumbfounded as he stared at something that he couldn't comprehend. A man with a green skull face, the lower part of it's jaw was covered by the collar of the black breastplate made from a strange material. It's armor seemed very similar to the armor of Baltins military elite.

"Release your righteous will!" she commanded.

"Rah!" Alexander heard a roar from a large crowd behind him.

He turned to see the room full of sticks now full of skinny, ghoulish soldiers with pale skin, they wore the same armor as the man with the skull head, but much smaller. Alexander looked across the vivid faces of the soldiers, one lacked an arm, another an eye, he glanced in the other direction only to see a soldier without a head. He turned back to the throne.

He couldn't see a single piece of her body, she was clad from head to toe in armor, on her head was a white mask with no details on it. Silver leggings and gauntlets, a breast plate with the design of a tree pressed into it. A long white skirt reached past her knees. Alexander could see some small roots slip out of the cracks in her armor.

"Those below the mountain seek to usurp our providence! We who we're blessed with Xenia's Strength, we who brought unity to the purebloods and the druids. We who protect the land from Yuria's waves, and blessed that wench Zadia by bringing order to her race of savages! We will give cause to their envy!" She shouted, she stood and walked toward the crowd.

The woman was at least six feet tall, on the raised platform she towered over everyone else in the room.

"The bite of our noble steel will split their skulls!" She shouted at the crowd.

"The bite of our noble steel will split their skulls!" The crowd repeated together.

"Repenting fickle envy on hands and knees, their sight shall not be blessed and mercy will not save them!"

"Repenting fickle envy on hands and knees, their sight shall not be blessed and mercy will not save them!"

"With the strength of the great one, on the graves of our fallen,"

"With the strength of the great one, on the graves of our fallen,"

"My subjects! Release your will upon the faithless! For not even the Celestial will save them from us!"

The crown shouted even louder than before, Alexander turned and looked at the army that seemed oblivious to his presence. 'What the hell is going on...' His heart beat rapidly, but something caught his eye he hadn't originally seen. The archway that he had walked under earlier shifted in place, just enough that Alexander knew he saw the pillar move.

"What the-"

The noble couldn't move a muscle as he looked up at what he thought was an archway this whole time, only to find out that those were two giant legs. He looked up to see a massive creature in front of where he had entered from. It had long arms that hung down to its knees, a scrawny upper body, and it's face was too hard to see from that distance. 'Was the room always that big... how can that thing even stand in here!' Alexander felt his heart skip a beat when he realized the massive beast was looked back down at him.

***

Alexander's eyes shot open, his face planted in the dirt, he breathed heavily as he regained his conscious. He tried to raise his head and felt strands of blood on his cheek drop into the dirt. He looked up at multiple angels clad in white run frantically around the field as they tried to assist the remaining injured. He rolled himself onto his back and looked up, the sky was pitch black, the celestial stretched high above the clouds.

"He's awake!" Alexander heard someone in the distance, he tried to sit upright but felt something strange under his chest. 'What is this?'

He didn't feel pain, but something felt off, he touched his stomach and felt a smooth texture, dragging his hand on it until he felt his skin. 'Huh?' Alexander looked at his stomach and noticed a green crystal had filled the wound. A black coat slid off of his back, he hadn't noticed it.

"Sir!" He heard Vivian run forward and she dropped to her knees in tears.

The lieutenant only wore a white shirt and black pants despite the chill in the air. She rushed to Alexander and hugged him tightly. 'What the... how long was I out.' The sun had gone down, most of the flames within Logos had dissipated over the ashes of what was once houses.

"I thought you were dead!" she cried with a worried look on her face, Alexander stared at her blankly before he pushed her away.

"Vivian... what is this?" Alexander asked as he looked down at his stomach.

"Huh?" she looked at the green crystal. I'm not sure... Should I request a doctor from house pendragon to analyze-"

"No," Alexander immediately declined as he got to his feet.

He noticed that he felt much lighter than before. He looked around the field, before he looked back up, the vivid sky from the dream remained in his memory. 'What was that dream about... that vivid sky felt so real... and the... huh?' Alexander grasped his head to Vivian's confusion. He rubbed his short green hair as his expression turned to confusion. 'What was I dreaming about...'

"Alexander," he heard a pair of footsteps approach behind.

Arid Lightbringer approached with his blue robe, similar to robes worn by alchemists. He had short stubble in place of a beard, discipline emanated from his expression. All of house Lightbringer had arrived on scene to assist. Arthur was nowhere to be seen.

"Arid, what's the situation-" Alexander was cut off as Arid handed him a clean white shirt.

"Thanks-" Alexander pulled the white shirt over his shoulders, threaded his arms into the sleeves, and buttoned it up halfway.

"Alexander Rael, I only gave Logos back to you yesterday, and I arrived to see green flames burn the site to the ground," Alexander's heart skipped a beat as he heard that voice.

Alexander immediately bowed and put one hand over his chest.

"My lord. I deeply apologize," He could only look at Lucifer's feet as he bowed his head.

"I heard from Arthur that you had gone on a rampage to stop the mysterious being. Is this true Alexander?" he questioned.

Alexander grit his teeth and looked up at the king of the angels. He wore long robes that went down to his legs, it made him look large. At his waist was the legendary Lightbringer. The brooch on his right shoulder was a golden two leaf clover, one of the leaves was hollow, the other solid. The braids on his head acted like a hair band for the lords long blonde hair. His clean shaved face was devoid of imperfections, 'This is my chance to ruin that fool Arthur!'

"That fool Arthur is behind this... I know it... before this entire attack he was desperate to delay us from finding the off worlder. And even when we all fought he didn't move a muscle, the pansy should have his status ripped from him!" Alexander vented.

"House Pendragon has been loyal to the Lightbringers for generations, Arthur is no different-"

"Sorry Lord Lightbringer, I have to stop you there..." Rolo walked into the conversation with his hands in his pocket, and his clothes slightly torn.

"Arthur didn't do anything... he watched us all get defeated, if he helped... Logos would be in a very different shape right now," Rolo explained.

"Don't you dare disrespect the noble houses you filth," Arid interjected.

"Oh? Unfortunately the noble of said house had his thumb up his ass for that entire battle," Rolo spat.

"You'd know, your entire clan is experienced in being filthy savages who practice it all the same. Don't let Vala's kindness get to your head brat, one wrong word and your entire race may starve for another year," Arid mocked.

Rolo grit his teeth and took his hands out of his pocket. Arid raised his hand. The two of them glared at each other, Rolo's focus was broken when a hand slapped him in the back of the head.

"What is it Avery..." Rolo turned and gave her a bored look.

"I'm telling Vala you fought with angles," she snickered.

"What? Hold- hold on I didn't even start fighting yet?!"

Riva was a short distance away on her knees, she was focused on the destroyed houses all around, she felt guilty, her expression made it apparent.

"We need to get back to Andurill and report this to the queen, we should have been back in Andurill by now," Avery said to Rolo and Riva.

"Noble hybrids, please allow Angela and Arid to assist your pursuit of this so-called... divine being," Lucifer uttered the title with contempt. "Who was this being, do you know? Did he say anything during your fight?" Lucifer asked Alexander.

"Yeah... they called him Ajal... he said he was from a different planet," Alexander explained.

Lucifer looked concerned all of a sudden.

"Do you know anything about that? Our texts state nothing in regards to the existence of planets other than Grelt. He stated he was from the planet Imperion," Alexander explained.

Lucifer's expression remained concerned and speechless, he looked down in thought as he contemplated something.

"An off worlder..." Lucifer uttered and Alexander nodded.

"This... this is... an unprecedented opportunity," Lucifer's whispered to himself as his expression changed to a grin, 'What?'.

"An opportunity... yes..." Lucifer continued to consider something.

'An opportunity? Is he insane?'

"Why did this... why did Ajal engage in combat?" Lucifer asked.

"Lord Lightbringer... with all due respect-"

"With all due respect, answer the question Noble Rael," Lucifer demanded to know.

Alexander looked down in thought, 'That's right...' he recalled seeing Jack before and after his fight with Ajal, and the words they exchanged.

"He was working with the non-unified slave discussed at the meeting. Jack Eldritch," Alexander confirmed.

"What... this, Jack appeared today?" Arid asked in disbelief.

"He was the slave in Logos responsible for sealing the mines, his parents before that. Now he has the assistance of a truly powerful ally, Murdok's words may mean more than we thought!" Alexander warned.

Lucifer looked up in thought.

"We must capture this divine being- this off-worlder... Ajal," Lucifer ordered.

Alexander felt a dread within him grow.

"My lord, he defeated two of the hybrid clan leaders and me... this man is a threat to the celestial itself. Forget capturing, he needs to be eradicated!" Alexander tried to reason.

Lucifer turned and looked up at the celestial.

"When Abaddon marches his armies down the streets of Helios, they will be a threat to the celestial itself. This off-worlder, he holds knowledge beyond this planet's reach, and if he truly is that powerful, he'd make a magnificent spearhead to plunge into Abaddon's heart," Lucifer explained.

Alexander knelt down on one knee.

"I understand, I apologize for my foolishness. I will not fail you my lord... I will make haste for the off worlder and capture him immediately-"

"No, not you," Lucifer declined.

"Those orders we're for Arid," Alexander turned and saw the black haired man on his knee.

"Relay this information to Angela, if you can, try to convince this Ajal to our cause, I trust in your skills Arid"

'But...'

"Please Lord Lightbringer, allow me to join the-"

"You are in no condition to pursue the off-worlder, you burned Logos to the ground, and now you seek to go to Andurill to do the same? House Rael should be ashamed," Lucifer interjected Alexander once more.

'What...' Alexander looked confused, his eyebrow raised in disbelief.

"You will remain on the continent of Kamino, and rebuild Logos from the ground up," Lucifer ordered.

"What..." Alexander uttered.

"Now, Arid. Inform me about the anomaly Arthur told you about," Lucifer turned around.

"Yes, it has to do with the report I received from Freiya at the meeting," Arid mentioned, the two of them walked off as they continued to discuss the so-called important matter.

"Stay... on Kamino?" Alexander repeated to himself.

Alexander's mind filled with rage, however for some reason he saw that person from his dream again. The large man with the head of a skeleton, something about him bothered Alexander to his core. He shook his head to snap out of it only to see he had conjured his greatsword in hand.

"Noble of house Rael," Lucifer called. "What is the meaning of drawing your weapon? Do you take issue with my decision,"

Alexander looked at Lucifer with a blank expression, he stared back at his hand to see the blade he gripped tightly. He loosened his grip and the blade vanished from his hand.

"I apologize my lord, I harbor no ill will or intent," Alexander lied.

Lucifer stared at him for several seconds, he took his hand off his sword. "Good," he turned around and continued, "I want Logos rebuilt before the snow of Hemhir falls."

Vivian approached while Lucifer walked away, she'd been too nervous to earlier.

"Sir, Bruno had a report ready for you in regards to what happened during the night, I believe the individual we encountered was this Ajal-"

"Shut up," Alexander ordered.

"Sir-"

"Don't say that fucking name..." Alexander put one hand over his face.

'Arthur... This is your fault... You fucking bastard... you delayed me from killing Jack for an entire year... and now you've delayed me once more!'

Alexander looked around at the rubble and debris of Logos. 'And this excuse of a Lord... dares to delay me for who knows how long by rebuilding Logos. He was chummy that whole time for information and he threw me away like a rag the moment I gave everything up. And then to discuss important matters with his loyal dog right after without me... What are they not telling me...'

Alexander clenched his fist and wisps of green flame released from it 'What the?'. Alexander looked down at his fist, and noticed the green flames he produced we're much more vibrant and wild, he looked down his shirt at the gemstone embedded in his stomach 'What the hell is this thing? Is this the celestials work? What is this strength I feel...' the noble pondered.