Chapter 9

Chapter 9. Sorrow. Ah . Jk. Like I would title my chapter that. What about... I don't know? Perhaps, random events that happen for a random reason, with neither being truly random? Yeah, that sounds better.

The hallway was empty. Completely empty, except... There was someone walking through it. A certain blond haired man. He wore a pair of black pants and a blue short sleeved shirt, that exposed his rather muscular arms. He was also rather tall. Said man, had one definitive quality though. Perhaps he was the only blond haired man in the almost empty hall? Perhaps he was the only human looking being. The only one wearing pants? The only one dragging a freaking giant sword around? I do not know. And there he stopped, leaning over to the side of the hallway. That particular side was made of glass, and he could see through this well.. Actually a window would be a proper term. Looking down he could see, the earth. Far above, the man looked down , for what purpose? He couldn't see anyone there, as he thought. That entire place needed to be destroyed. The second thought. Ari looked lovely in her suit. Third thought. A great desire to consume food, fourth thought.... And in a few moments... The thoughts had piled up. He stumbled back holding his head. He wanted to destroy all. He wanted to cure the sick. He wanted to eat. He wanted to have a dog...  And right after, he stabilized. His thoughts were now clear, one. His master had called. He was ordered to go up and meet him. As he went , he was met with the sight of a short , black haired girl. He went past her, not paying much attention. He did dislike Nealon, mainly because.. Well, he would begin hearing thoughts again.  "Let us admit. You are stronger , mightier, better. You.. ". , and then he was halted, by..  "Oh gosh, she is so beautiful" and then "What? Wh.." , "He doesn't mean her. He means the other one?"  , and a surprised one "THERE IS ANOTHER ONE?" And followed by   "Are you an idiot?" Straight after it, "Yes, all of you are" , and a last touch of "How dare you call me an idiot. I am almighty, I am all powerful. You can never dare to think of insulting me you ingrate. I will..." Before the blond would shout "SHUUUUUT UUUP!" and hold his head, before going on to balance his thoughts and try to walk to his master. If that wasn't enough weird, perhaps the fact their leader, Nealon was not even bothered by it? Those thoughts went on the girl's head as she watched from afar. Said girl was the same who had given Ild a pretty bad beating before, and after witnessing this scene, she turned around only to face, someone in his Asuran armor. It was of course, Anos, the Frightening. And anyone could understand why he remained in the armor. Had someone noticed, nobody would be in their armors anymore, except Anos. Even Ari managed to find a dress and put on, but Anos... Was forever bound to his armor.
"Sorry. "-she muttered, before getting past the Asuran and moving on, towards the leader's room. Ari was.. A strange one. Born Ariadne Arkwell, to one of the noble families of a distant land, this girl had ... Let us say she had had a taste of the noble life, and the life of a guinea pig. Well, not so much for the second, as she indirectly became part of a certain experiment. Of course, the blue flames didn't come out of nothing now did they? And.. Why was she here anyway? What the heck did she want with all that? All she wanted was to go back home and take a nice sleep, beneath a warm blanket, and eat a decent dinner. Not that the dinners she had had lately were indecent. The life of a high Asuran guard could be very luxurious at times. How many could say they got to live in a floating station? Many actually, now that she was reminded. Was it all? Only surface thoughts? Was there not more to her? Was there a certain reason behind all this? What the... Who the... Why the....   Nah. It was too confusing. Or was it? It shouldn't be. Or should it? Well, perhaps it should. Hmmm... Once one thinks about it really deep, there is an answer. No, there is not. And that is how Ari could get into a chaos of thoughts , a massive paradox and bunch of contradictions, out of even a simple wish for a nice night of sleep. Said thought activity either ended with her in tears briefly, or her relieved for a moment, and with an attempt to forget what happened, that succeeded almost always after some time. And so she went to meet with Dr.Sonnemuz, together with the other Guards. This was the relief, obligation to do something else and hope of forgetting the thoughts that brought to sorrow. Anos though had been waiting in the spot Ari was before, as he lifted the hands of the Asuran armor, and looked at the palms. Once... He had only a pair of hands. Once...   He proceeded to turn around and move towards the meeting room. There he was. The man in the neat black suit, with the slicked back hair and the glasses. Those creepy glasses always had a glint of light to them, and ... And he had his fingers clasped. The man smiled, a cold smile.. As he spoke.
"My dear Asurans. I.. Assume you don't know why you are here?"
"Actually, we all do. "-Ari said. Her voice was, co fusing to many, one could assume whoever had it would be a caring, all loving person, who you would just want to hug at any time, instead of a certain someone who commanded unstoppable all-consuming flames.
"As soon as we had enough food, we realised Karma was gone"-explained the blonde haired man, laughing slightly.
"Be more serious Dyonissius"-Dr. Sonnemuz added , as the man was silent. Dr.Sonnemuz would proceed to say things like:
"As we were explained, Karma is dead. However.. What bothers me is his way of death. While he did meet his doom at the ends of a newly discovered Awesomeness Surge by one named Sonne, by his allies, what bothers me is what weakened him to the point. Apparently, a strange being which produced with a mere slash of his sword, waves of energy so powerful they caused much damage to Karma  "-and he would stop, before saying "In his released state". The last one, shocked the group. While Karma wasn't the strongest, heck, most of them would need some power to bring him down.
"But... Who? And how? And why?"-would Ari ask, before Dr.Sonnemuz smiled again.
"A piece of glass"-he said.

Ild had been fighting the Asuran all day. She had a normal armor, yet her release was monstrous. Said Asuran proceeded to let Ild strike her several times while in Hyper Combat and pour the blood. Said blood, activated her Asuran Arms: bleeding Princess, which was devastating enough, producing highly powerful energy waves for one, and then producing  various red , translucent objects, keeping her protected. It was a difficult battle. Ild held his sword firmly, as he entered the tunnel for the second time, appearing again, as he tried to slash past the red wall. It was futile, the wall did not even suffer any damage. And.. The thing was, it covered her entirely. What was it though? Ild had been.. A bit off lately. Surely , he could have had a bit trouble, but normally he would have been done with this kind of foe eventually. He was going nowhere, and his Hyper Combat was failing him. Slowly, it reverted back to normal, as the Asuran proceeded to dissolve the wall, and produce several spears aimed at him. He couldn't retaliate in time. He got hit, and bleeding, but the blood only mixed with the spears, making them bigger, he had to get them out. Gathering all of his strength he pulled out the spear, and another.. And ran away, pulling the third spear as he could. Using Hyper Combat one last time, to run and hide, he was safe, for now. Ild couldn't believe it. What had gotten into him? He fought that strange zombie guy, and he got blocked. He fought that girl, and he got blocked again. Why was it? What was wrong? His power.. It had been surely greater. He could manage this. He had to. He had done it before. But then, why.... And memories started filling his head. He was back, alone, as his body was rubbing against something soft.. It were the tentacles, and in his front , the man with the mouths. But then, something started , only slightly touching him.. The blue flames, were reaching up to his body, almost ready to consume him... He was hopeless, he was alone. And Sonne.. Sonne came in, and proceeded to punch the man away, and kick the girl into exploding... He had saved the day. No.. This  couldn't be. He could not fall before Sonne. And then he was about to fall to anger, but he did not fall.. No. He couldn't allow himself to use the same means as his enemy. He was after all chosen, a hero... He was a hero. Fate was on his side, and fate was what he would use. Moving from his hiding location, he faced the girl Asuran again.
"Ahahahahaha... Back for some more?"-she mocked him. However, she couldn't miss the fiery gaze in Ild's eyes. In a second, he placed his hand above his shirt and tore it off, revealing his build. It wasn't as muscular as Sonne, but the silver haired man, with the shirtless body, and angry look, carrying a sword that was literally cracking in the blue and purple flames, was enough of a warning. A warning, the Asuran didn't take. She proceeded to release again, and attack him with the blood lanced. Ild.. Simply vanished, and the Asuran simply found herself stabbed through. As she was wounded however, the blood was used to make small , but very sharp needles and kill Ild, was it not for the fact, he would proceed to raise his sword a bit up, as the Asuran was cut even further, releasing more blood, which she used to form a knife and launch herself forward, before turning backwards and facing Ild, attempting to draw more blood from the wound and make a sword. Needless to say , her attempt at impaling Ild was only met, with a sudden wave of hyper energy which sliced her in half, ending the Asuran. The ten Iron guards following her were easily ended, as Ild vanished, and entered the tunnel, it literally going last his eyes in a flash and he could move.. A speed that was super human, even in Hyper Combat. He proceeded to cut the Iron Guards in half, all of them.. Ending the threat, but it was far from over, The Blue Flames emerged once more as Ild got out of Hyper Combat. He was met with the look of the girl from before, with a saddened and rather worried look on her face, as if she was... As if something horrible had happened, and she was expecting more of it. She proceeded to speak.
"She was one of my personal apprentices. All of the Asurans have one of the high guards teach them, did you know?"-she asked. That voice almost made Ild feel bad, she had killed the Asuran from before. Almost. And it made him want to say "No" normally and hear the explantation. Not that he was going to fall for such illusion anymore. Was it one? Was it an illusion?
Ari was not sure, what was taking him so long to respond, make some snarky comebacks, or attack her at worst. It is not like the other Asurans had made much notice of her before, and... And there was something else. He was different from the last time they had met. He was weaker before, or.. More like a twig about to snap, but now.. He was a big branch, fully grown... He had definitively become more powerful, but when? In the last fight? No.. It was impossible. She smiled, as Ild proceeded to attack her. At first, it was the same common routine, fighting and dodging the flames, but she had to figure, he had mastered that tornado move, and could now dispel the flames easier. He had also pulled a few more tricks and... Ouch. Her armor had been hit, and again, and again. She was bleeding once more.
Ari proceeded to slam the staff into the ground as a mixture between a serpentine and bird like shale emerged , composed entirely of her blue flames. Ild , in turn hadn't much to do. He took a deep breath as Hyper Energy begun pulsing around him, before.. His body was covered in the purple flames of hyper energy, his entire physical form, before he channeled them into forming a similar being, jumping on top of it , he rode it into battle with the other. The two clashed first, with Ild making a sword slash at it, which was consumed quickly. His beast retaliated, and proceeded to attack with flames, to no avail. They clawed and battled for a while, until... Until it seemed Ari got tired and made the dragon disappeared.
"Later"-she said, before disappearing herself  in the blue flames.
Ild had now.. The strength he needed. Once he and Sonne were equals, then Sonne grew stronger, but now.. Now they were equal again. And perhaps.. He had surpassed Sonne? Those were Ild's thoughts as he moved out.

Wynd was drinking. His fifth mug of ale.. After the first twenty. And he didn't feel drunk enough. He decided, if he did something stupid m at least he'd feel that much drunk. So he picked up his sword and lifted it, attempting to chop someone's head in half. Apparently, had he noticed this someone was Lone, he wouldn't. That is what Lone liked to think at that moment, as he took his knifes and blocked the attack, before moving out. Then Wynd proceeded o kick him in the chest and sent him flying. Yeah, so much for Lone. Then Wynd would begin to yell , about there being nobody else still brave, and so, before he picked on another person. Unluckily, this person was one with a name. And you know the rule. Anything with a name in this story, is badass somehow. So , yeah.. The man he picked on, had purely white hair. Not the grayish-white Ild had, no.. His was a pure, pale white color, and his eyes cyan. He wore a long, dark blue coat, and a black shirt underneath, complete with pants of the same color. The shirt, tightly fitted against his body, revealed him to be somewhat well built, as he took out a weapon to defend. A sword.. With a blade of glass. And right after he would proceed to lift it up, and throw Wynd slightly back. The man was angered by this, as he proceeded to let the sword down and then move it up and have it descend on the man at full strength. The man , holding his glass blade with two hands, had them go back and forward, as if the sword was a flagpole and he was swinging the flag, and the swords would clash, but.. Lone interfered. With his two knives up, he blocked either strike and was trying to hold himself from being cut apart, if the blades sled off from his knives. The blades however went down.
"Leave. This is not your fight"-Wynd said.
"It is everybody's fight"-Lone responded, before the man had turned around. Lone would speak to him, but he suddenly remembered, he had seen this man somewhere before, and when the golden crest appeared on his back, and the six wings came, which levitated him, before he vanished in the burst of cyan light , Lone knew he had seen him. Ah, yes.. He gave him a beating and knocked a hole through the wall of the city. But , what the heck was he doing there. It was no time for that, he had found Wynd, and they had to act.
"So.. You let Ild go there all alone, with no help?"- he asked.
"I don't care"-Wynd responded, dragging the sword back to where it belonged.
"What do you really want?"-Lone asked.
"Ask that to yourself first"-Wynd said, certain he was talking to an incompetent fool.
"I have. And I have been answered"-Lone said, ordering a drink.
"Perhaps you didn't hear it well?"-Wynd attempted to mock him.
"No. It echoed through my ears, and heart"-Lone responded, a clear note of pride in his voice.
So this was not someone with no conviction, but an optimistic fool, thought Wynd. Yet.. They tend to be on the side of massacre.. And fighting the guys with more mooks, so.. Why not help him?
"So, let us say I decide to aid you. What am I supposed to do?"-he asked, seemingly bored, but in fact curious.
"Save the four, bring down the Dr."-Lone said, as he finished his drink.
"And how are you going to even get up there?"-Wynd asked before Lone stood up and said.
"Come. I'll show you"
And so he did. Lone did show Wynd, back at the rebel base.. It was a strange craft, with a huge engine in the back, and two wing like structures..
"It is what the Asurans used to fly"-he said. "It will only carry two, with the modifications"-Lone finished, as Wynd looked at the craft.
"Very well then, I'll help you"-he said.
"So.. What about that man?"-Lone drifted off to another subject, afraid Wynd would change his mind. He had to admit.. They needed him.
"What about him?"-Wynd responded, as he left the building, leaving Lone in thought .