T

The attack started without warning, giving Celestial City no time to react. It had only been two weeks since the troops had started to assemble, and now they were attacking with zero training and hardly any expertise.

Of course, these were not humans who needed swords and shields to fight.

This was an army of demi-humans, who have claws and scales and teeth. As docile as they can be, when demi-humans move en masse, they are a force to be reckoned with.

The army sorrounded the city from all sides with arial units dropping in infiltration units from above. The high walls that sorrounded the city were no problem for the hundreds of thousands of climbers, jumpers, and fliers that were invading the religious cult. The front gates fell within minutes of the invasion, increasing the sheer number of demi-humans who were attacking. General Vener had planned the attack, but he was the first one inside the walls to draw his sword.

Blood was shed from the city guards, who ran in terror from the monsters that were attacking. For a lot of the invading force, this was a chance for revenge. Former slaves, those that have been descriminated against, and the people who have lost loved ones were able to display their rage. Blood flowed like rivers through the streets, driving a lust for revenge like never before.

This was a crusade.

Lucia, Elas, Draco, and Lilly all started in the four cardinal directions, then met at the gates of the cathedral. The templars who protect the walls of the church were fighting back with equal ferocity and predjuidice, but the demi-humans had the obvious advantage. The templars fought from behind their shield, the wall that kept the cathedral safe for thousands of years. This was more than a temple of god, it was a fortress.

Standing in front of the large doors leading into the cathedral's walls, Lucia, Elas, Draco and Lilly all looked at each other with a smile. They all felt the same way, a mix of adrenaline and deja vu.

"Allow me," said Draco, stepping forward to the doors. He wore a blood red captain's jacket that went down to his ankles and boots that belonged to a navy admiral. His face had changed to grow two pairs of horns around his head that were shaped like a crown. He stood boldly in front of the barrier, looking at the armored men that decorated the top.

"You will never make it in, demons!" shouted one of the door guards. "Turn around or you will suffer the wrath of god!"

"You should realize by now," Draco yelled back, "that the wrath belongs to us!"

Draco breathed in deeply, expanding his chest like a frog's gullet. When he had breathed in as much as he could, he braced himself and blew at the barrier. A jet of fire like the pure, concentrated force of the sun spread across the magical barrier. Draco kept up the flames until the entire barrier was consumed in the flames of a dragon. When he stopped fueling the fire, Draco stood by and watched the fire disappate.

The barrier stood strong, but the men inside were terrified for their lives.

"Let me give it a crack," Elas offered, stepping up to the plate. Draco backed away like a gentleman, giving the Midrardian the spotlight.

Elas braced herself as well, then created a storm of ice and snow that pelted the barrier like the relentless force of nature. It was a spectacle to watch as the entire barrier was encased in ice that swirled and stormed around it trying to break in. There wasn't a single area that didn't recieve ample pressure, until the ice was thick enough to support the weight of the entire invading force. Elas stepped back to watch her handiwork as the ice cracked and broke apart.

The barrier remained, the shards of ice falling off and sliding through the streets onto the demi-humans.

"Damn," Elas remarked, looking back at Lilly and Lucia to see if they wanted a turn.

"Wait," Draco said, stepping up to Elas, "let's try something." Elas bent down so that the dragon boy could whisper in her ear. A smile slowly crossed the big girl's lips, and she nodded to her tiny dragon friend. They stood a short distance away from each other while remaining close to the barrier, then braced for impact.

Like twisting anacondas, the two forces of fire and ice encircled the barrier in unison. The two opposing forces generated deafening force, pushing the barrier to it's limits as the two friends put their all into breaking down the dividing wall. Ice an fire squirmed and struck the barrier, enveloping the entire half-sphere in a magnificent display of power. When they were too tire to continue, Elas and Draco stepped back together to observe their work.

The barrier remained, still as invisible and impenetrable as always.

"Hah!" went the cheer from the templars, "We are invincible!"

As the templars cheered in their safe zone, General Vener stepped forward to regard Eric's party.

"How goes the diversion?" he asked in hushed tones.

"Seems to be working," Lilly giggled at the secret. "Can your guys really bring down the shield?"

"Of course," said Vener with a smile. "The Church of the Holy Trinity is many things, but it is not mole-proof."

As he said that, the barrier suddenly glowed a bright blue color, then it began to degrade from the top down. The cheer from the templars were replaced by an overwhelming roar from the demi-human forces. There was a mad scramble inside the cathedral wars to prepare for combat. The arial units already were dropping in from above, the cries of the templars reaching outside the walls to the glee of the ragtag troops.

When the barrier finaly fell, Lucia, Draco, Lilly, and Elas stormed the castle first. They broke through the doors and fought with devestating ferocity, cutting, pounding, freezing and burning their way towards the main entrance. They made their way to the doors, opening the doors to the cathedral proper. When they managed to get in, they were met with a team of starnosed moles.

"Oh," Lilly said in suprise, "'mole-proof'."

"Did Vener tell you that?" one of the giant moles asked.

"Yes," Draco answered, and they all sighed.

"The most successful infiltration unit ever, but it's the same old joke," one of them said exasperatedly.

"Hey, you guys are the primary fighting team. We can lead you to the dungeon."

The moles gave Lucia the grand tour with everyone following behind. They passed a circular room that led down another hallway, which opened up into a wide stairway. Lucia felt her heart beating, awaiting her reunion with Eric.

On the way there, they met with an attendant in white robes who very nearly wet himself at the sight of the dangerous insurgents. Lucia blazed forward, grabbing the attendant by his hood and forcing him to the ground.

"You're coming with us," Lucia said solidly, dragging him behind her like a dead weight.

"Why?" Lilly asked curiously.

"If Eric isn't here, we'll have someone to ask," Lucia explained, gritting her teeth at the thought.

The moles continued to lead the team further down into the cathedral, passing various empty rooms while the battle raged all around them. The sound of fighting faded as they entered a dank underground, a pure darkness inside. One of the moles grabbed a nearby lantern and headed down first, giving everyone else the light to follow him. The sound of footsteps echoed across the walls as the party made it to the bottom of the stairs.

Instead of a row of cells or a series of iron bars, there was a single, solitary door. It was heavy, and looked newly installed. It was clear that there was something valuable behind the door with the amount of security required, but that didn't mean it was Eric.

Lucia stepped forward and pulled on the door, demanding it be opened either through power or sheer force of will.

"Hold on, we need to think about this," Elas said, trying to be the force of reason.

That is, until the edges of the door groaned and the hinges snapped. Lucia pulled with every muscle fiber at her disposal, slowly pulling the giant door from it's casing. Lilly stepped forward and grabbed ahold as well, pulling with all her might. Draco stepped up, too, then Elas. All together, they made a team effort and pulled the block of metal free from it's passage.

Lucia stepped inside and her eyes went wide as a bright glow illuminated her world.

Sitting in the middle of a room lit with candles and incense was an hourglass about the size of a soda can. The sand inside of it glowed as it flowed endlessly from one end to the other. Lucia stepped forward and picked the hourglass up, looking at it very closely. Though on the outside the top and bottom were covered by wood, the inside simply had a dark void from which the sand would routinely fall. It was an endless cycle, magic pouring in from nowhere and going nowhere.

"What is this?" Lucia asked, her tone severly wounded. "Where is Eric?!"

Lucia tossed the hourglass away in frustration, going back to the attendant she had snagged earlier.

"Where did you take him?!" Lucia shouted angrily, tears breaking through her eyes and falling down here cheeks.

"That's enough," said a commanding voice in the room.

Standing where Lucia had thrown the hourglass was a figure dressed all in black wearing an armored helmet that looked demonic. He held the hourglass in one hand while gazing at the group in the shocked silence. Lucia felt her temper flare, so she released a tiger's roar that echoed boldly through the cavern. With a leaping twist, Lucia kicked the man in the shoulder, his body twisting at the applied force without breaking. Lucia then pulled around and punched him in the stomach, hearing his breath come out through his visor.

"Tell me where Eric is you-" Lucia pulled off the man's helmet in anger.

Lucia's voice suddenly failed her, her anger draining away as the man's face was suddenly revealed. It was horrifying, the entire left side covered in mangled scar tissue. The eye on that side of his face was white, his lips attached by skin that had melted together. All the way around the back of his head down to the hair follicles was just a massive scar. It was entirely lopsided, and the entire room stared in horror at the disfigured human being.

But the most shocking part, was that the right side of his face belonged to Eric.

It was Eric's jaw, his chin, his hair that grew out of control. It was Eric's eyes that carried an infinite sadness, the same ones that avoided eye contact with his friends. It was Eric's ghostly smile, the way he seemed to want to smile but couldn't. It was Eric's nose, strong and powerful even while half of it was just a scar.

The black clad figure, the Iscariot with the helmet, had half of Eric's face.

Lucia felt her knees go weak as she stared at half of Eric's face, but the big man caught her with his large hands. Her eyes were pools of salty tears, filling endlessly with no release.

"I'm not as pretty as I used to be, I know," Eric said now that his voice wasn't muffled. The silence got even deeper, nobody daring to speak even after Eric's comment.

Finally, Lucia was barely able to mouth, "Why?"

"I think they should explain that," Eric said, pointing to the door.

Everybody turned around to see nine dark figures blocking the exit. They all had a single piece of armor on their bodies, and each one of them were as tall and broad as Eric. The one in the lead reached up and grabbed his mask, pulling it away to reveal a scarred and disfigured left side and a right side of Eric's face. One by one, the men in masks all took them off to reveal the exact same face, copied and pasted exactly.

"Who?" Draco asked.

"What?" Lilly asked.

"When?" Elas inquired.

"How?" Lucia squeaked.

All of the Eric's exchanged nervous glances, then in unison, they all answered:

"It's complicated."

T