Times of Darkness

*Lumyr rolls out of the way.*

Lumyr: <I don't believe in grudges, but you've cost me too much trouble already.>

*Lumyr takes his sword and unsheathes it. All the way up the blade there's a dragon engraved on it. However, he decides not to do anything just yet, and see what Ranmaru has in store first.*

====

Winston: <God... dammit.... ah...>

*Winston falls backwards.*

Outside

*Allina squeals and starts dancing around Winston, stepping all over him.*

Allina: <Who's the brawler? I'M the brawler! Who's the-->

Razz: <...Come... here...>

Allina: <Hm? Oh, I forgot all about you two. What's up?>

Razz: <Come closer... so I can stab you.>

Allina: <Just for that one, I'm not healing you.>

=====
~Lumyr & Ranmaru~

*While they're standing around, Parker leaps backwards, breathing poisonous gas at them.*

=====
~Ryzell~

OOC: They're outside the palace now, remember?

Kelphy: <Protect Rhea at all costs!>

*Two dragon serpents of water rise from the ground around Kelphy in a spiral, and then start glowing intensely. A pair of yellow eyes seems to appear on each of them as the princess' eyes become full blue and she raises her arms. Rhea fades out of the guard's arms and reappears amidst the attacking spirit foxes, running towards Ryzell, trying to dodge them.*

Kelphy: <Tidal Wave.>

Rhea: <Rhyzell, stop!>

*Rhea throws herself against Ryzell, wrapping her arms around his torso, tears sliding down her cheeks. Kelphy widens her eyes and they partially revert back to normal as she sees Rhea, but it is too late to stop the spell. A gigantic tidal wave bursts from her towards Ryzell and Rhea, towering over several blocks of houses.*

He stopped. His feet ceasing to move as Rhea flung herself against him. Flashes of the past flooded his mind and his clouded eyes cleared. He couldn’t believe it. His last thought under Legel’s control was, “I remember…”

---

In the prison of his mind Ryzell could see them clearly. All his precious memories were coming back to him; most precious of all were the memories of his time with a certain special girl.

~~~~

He remembered how he met Rhea. He was seven at the time and wandered out of his adopted parents’ home. He saw a group of kids picking on a girl who was trying desperately to pick up a spilled basket of flowers. He ran at the group screaming, “LEAVE HER ALONE YOU MEANIES!” before tackling their leader and biting at his ear. They beat him up but left. He was laughing.
“Hey, my name’s Ryzell what’s your name?”
The girl looked at his antenna and smiled before poking them, “Rhea, my name’s Rhea.”

~~~~

He remembered them playing together even though the village told them not to. He was different because of his antenna. Rhea was never afraid of him even after he started to tap into his magic. They’d always play princess and knight together.
“Back ye foul beasts!” Ryzell swung his stick “sword” at the imaginary monsters that were holding Rhea captive. Defeating them, he rescued his princess and carried her to safety.
She laughed and smiled, “My hero”

~~~~

He remembered the time when Rhea went missing. The whole village was in a panic trying to find her. Ryzell himself went out into the forest alone, at age nine, to find her. He did indeed find her curled up way far away from the village with a sprained ankle and crying until he gave her his hand with a smile.
“Your knight’s here now princess.” He carried her back to the village on his back. When they returned the whole village celebrated and for the first time the whole village accepted Ryzell despite his so called “deformity”.

~~~~

He remembered that night the two of them were sitting on a bench watching the stars and he asked her.
“Rhea, when you grow up what do you want to be?”
“That’s a silly question Ryzell. I want to be a princess. What about you?”
“Easy, when I grow up I want to be your knight Rhea.”
She giggled and smiled, “You promise?” and held her pinky out.
“I promise” and he made a pinky promise with her.

~~~~

Most fondly of all he remembered what happened after the pinky promise.
“Ryzell mom taught me a magic spell too”
“Oh? Can I see it?” he asked her.
“You have to close your eyes or it won’t work” she told him with a serious face.
“Oh, ok” he closed his eyes. He felt her kiss his cheek and his face turned red as he blushed. “R-Rhea?”
“M-mom told me it was a spell to protect someone who you like a whole bunch” she was blushing too.
That night they fell asleep on that bench leaning on each other watching the stars.

~~~~

It was a year later that the Helzol scouts came to the village. In order to save everyone he left but not before a parting gift from his “princess.”
“Isn’t this your necklace Rhea? Why is it broken in half?”
“It’s a guiding star silly. One half for me and another for you, so come back safely and return the other half someday Ryzell.”
“I promise Rhea, even if it takes me a life time I’ll come back to my princess. That’s what a real knight does right?” he kissed her hand before being taken from the village.

---

After that was the tortures of Helzol’s Palace. They tried to break him but his resolve stood firm. It took a brainwashing spell from Legel to finally bring the boy under their control.
But now that spell was gone.

---

Ryzell took the half star pendant from his pocket and clasped it around his neck. Blue flames traveled up his body burning away Legel's dark influence. What was green now shone brilliant blue.

"I... REMEBER!" the flames whirled and danced around Rhea and he forming into a protective dome as the water crashed over them before being blasted back by the brilliant azure flames. The flames encircled the water droplet by droplet until the air was filled by droplets of water with blue flames arcing around them.

However the curse was strong. The burned away darkness reformed into an entity of green flames that stood before Ryzell and lashed out. Ryzell gentle pushed Rhea out of the way as blue flames arced from his back forming into wings of flame. He flew at the thing and knocked it into the sky where he followed it and fought. The thing mirrored his movements as they traded blows but... ultimately...

"Never again will I return to that cursed existence Legel. HEAR MY WORDS...NEVER WILL YOU CONTROL ME AGAIN! NOW BANISH BEFORE THESE PURIFYING FLAMES. *Youkai Waza: Tengoku no Haraikiyomeru Aokaen!" the flames encircling the water released and slammed into the creature combining with it and turning the thing blue as it let out a shrill unearthly cry and burned to death.

Ryzell returned to the ground and knelt before Rhea. He took her hand and kissed it, "Your knight has returned m'lady. Sorry it took so long" he smiled and winked.

---

*Apparition Art: Heaven's Exorcising Blue Flame

Ranmaru jumps out of the way and tosses a bunch of kunai at Parker. Apparently he saved some from his earlier battle.

*Lumyr quickly makes his way up another tree, standing on a thin branch.*

=====

*Winston staggers up a little bit and grabs his gun, gets behind Allina, points at her back and pulls the trigger. All without a moment's hesitation.*

Outside

*Allina falls face-down. Razz springs to his feet, loudly groaning in pain, and hurls a barrage of flaming daggers at Winston.*

Razz: <ALLINA!>

=====

*Parker blocks the kunai with a barrage of her own. The archers surround the three of them.*

=====

*Kelphy sighs loudly in relief, falling to her knees, as tears keep flowing down Rhea's face. She smiles broadly and starts leaning towards him. Suddenly, her eyes widen in an expression of surprise and she's covered in ice, flash-freezing. Aera stands behind Ryzell, grinning.*

Aera: <Look at that, the stray freak has feelings too.>

Ryzell snaps his fingers and the ice melts returning Rhea to normal. "You know you can't beat me Aera. I was Helzol Army's strongest magic user. As was my father and mother before me. Its why Legel wanted me under his thumb. You can't beat me here so go crawling back to Legel on your hands and knees and give him a message for me. Suck. My. Dick!" Ryzell slams his palm into Aera's chest as a flash of blue flames wash over her sending her flying back to the palace across the dimensional divide.

---

"I think that a surrender is in order Lumyr."

Lumyr: <A surrender? Absolutely not. You do realize what they'd do to us if they caught us, right? Torture us for information and then execute us when we're done... no, I can't allow myself to get caught here.>

*Lumyr's sword glows with the same purple flame as back when he first got trapped in vines when he first entered, however the glow was much more potent and clear.*

Lumyr: <I suggest you find somewhere out of range. Quickly.>

*Lumyr does a 360 spin with his sword, and a large wave of purple flame flies in all directions.*

=====

*Winston takes a few of the daggers to the shoulder, leg, arm, etc, but manages to avoid one of the ones aiming for his chest, and falls to the ground, in pain, yet laughing at the same time.*

Outside

*Razz also falls on his face, groaning in pain. A spear of fire bursts from the ground towards Winston's gut. After this last attack, Razz loses consciousness.*

=====

*The archers start retreating in panic, most of them being enveloped and knocked out by the flames. Parker bursts into acid, vanishing.*

=====

*The ice melts, but the attack on Aera merely knocks her back a ways. She grins.*

Aera: <Stupid insect. You think you're out... but you don't know the truth. Nor will you ever, because all of your lives end now!>

*Kelphy and Rhea both stand up, Kelphy walking over to them.*

Rhea: <Who is she?>

"Legel's, the commander general of the Helzol army's, lapdog. Aera Turmil. She thinks she can match my strength. She has no idea how wrong she is. Both of you stand back this could get messy." Ryzell walks forward as the wind shifts.

"I'll give you one last chance to run. You're one-hundred years too early to be testing your mettle against me. Besides I'd hate to make your brother cry by killing you."

---

"Not bad kid."

*Lumyr's head starts paining a little bit, but he manages to stay concentrating, in case Parker were to show up again.*

Lumyr: <Well, I didn't become a general for no good reason, you know...>

*His head continues to throb, but he ignores it for now. He knew it would be a bad idea to use his magic without waiting for the antidote to settle in first.*

Lumyr: <Do you know of anywhere we could perhaps rest for awhile?>

=====

*Winston, unable to move, is forced to take the pain and the spear tears into him.*

Inside

*Winston wakes up lying on a bed in the middle of the Grand Hall, his wounds partially healed. Crone stands beside him, staring at the door up the stairs blankly.*

---

Outside

*The antidote starts producing effect. Panic beings to spread across the entire city, and the streets begin to fill with running and yelling people.*

=====

Kelphy: <No. I'm f-fighting her too.>

*Rhea sighs and steps away from them. Aera glares at Ryzell before laughing frantically.*

Aera: <Shut your whore mouth! Even that useless wimp was worth more than an aberration like you!>

*She slams her hammer down and giant (palace height) ice monoliths start emerging all around, some crashing through parts of the city and palace and causing the ground to shake violently.*

Lumyr: <Wonder what's going on?>

=====

Winston: <What... the hell happened?>

Ryzell swings his arm and the ice begins to turn azure blue before melting away gently. "Useless wimp? Since when did you regard Ari with such vulgar words? I remember you coming to his defense when I use to say such things about him. What happened to Ari's big sister eh? Did Legel take control of your mind too or are you just blinded by infatuation!?" Ryzell nods to Kelphy in approval. "I'd prefer you'd help keep my princess Rhea safe while I fought but since this IS your kingdom Kelphy I suppose I can't argue with you."

---

"Maybe we should go find out"

Inside

Crone: <Prepare for battle.>

*He arrives at the top of the stairs and walks through the door.*

---

Outside

*The melting ice turns into millions of ice spears that shoot towards them. Aera slams her hammer down once more and the ground cracks open all the way over to them before ice spikes burts from the seam.*

The ice spears are blocked by what appears to be flaming skeletal samurai in iron armor. Apparitions of fallen warriors at Ryzell's command.

"Youkai Waza: *Seireigun" he says nonchalantly before flames consume the ice moving towards him reducing them to nothing.

---

*Spirit Army

---

Ranmaru follows Lumyr

Lumyr: <Yeah, I guess we should.>

*Lumyr heads towards the general direction of the screaming.*

=====

Winston: <Wait.... what?>

Inside

*1:42*

---

*The screaming increases as they approach and everyone runs away from them in panic.*

=====

*The spirit soldiers freeze as Aera shatters to dust and more ice monoliths keep emerging.*

Ryzell's flames continue to consume them. He hasn't even budged from his spot yet. A flame barrier rises around Rhea, Kelphy, and himself as the ice needles rain down and bounce away harmlessly against it. More soldiers appear inside the barrier. "Kelphy mix your magic with mine. You too Rhea."

---

"Look like its us."

Lumyr: <I... guess it is. Maybe it was a bad idea to walk straight in like this.>

=====

*Winston gets up, his eyes still adjusting to the light.*

Winston: <Well, I'd better make sure I wear my armor this time...>

*Winston gets up and heads for his room.*

Inside

*0:36*

---

Outside

*They're surrounded by guards again. A lot more than before.*

=====

Rhea: <W-What?>

Kelphy: <(Where is she...?)>

"Just trust me" he holds his hands out to both of them.

Ryzell is currently starting to sense Aera's location.

---

"shit"

Lumyr: <I figured as much.>

*Lumyr looks around for any sign of a person leading them.*

=====

Winston: <Damn, why do they have to pressure me like this...?>

*Winston makes his way to his room and quickly puts his robotic suit of armor on, attaching the weapons and everything to it.*

Inside

*Whenever he arrives at the Crossroads, probably late, Crone is standing on the portal looking bored, already holding the coord orb. The Gatekeeper just stands there.*

---

Outside

*He sees the palace. Because the guards are obviously being sent by ya know, the royal family he came to kill.*

=====

*Kelphy takes his hand. Rhea prepares to, but just as Ryzell is beginning to feel Aera, the air behind Rhea flash-freezes and Aera emerges from the block of ice, swinging her hammer at Rhea and sending her crashing into a ruined palace tower. She then hides into the ice and shatters, once again emerging from ice but a few yards away.*

Rhea hits a softish poofy cushion of flames that oddly don't burn softening her impact but it still probably hurt like hell but at least it was non-fatal now.

Ryzell cast a death glare at Aera as his samurai soldiers rose again only this time they seemed to be more solid. They also looked draconic with blue scales. Ryzell was channeling his and Kelphy's magic together. The samurai dragons attacked Aera.

---

"I heard you intended to rebel" Ranmaru said to Lumyr out of the blue.