Nine Kingdoms: Forever War

Kenton helped Suri down, as soon as they were liberated from their temporary riders the dragons all took off without hesitation, after helping Suri a woman in her late thirties in royal garments came and talked to Kenton in a very low voice, her expression was of worry as she left “I am afraid dinner must wait, the Emperor is waiting for you, the situation has changed” Kenton said as he led the group down the tower, once they reached the main level he led them down a hidden staircase that took them deep under the Citadel and eventually after a few minutes in the dark they emerged in a large room that was dimly lit, a massive hollow gate stood in the centre of the room. The architecture was different and much older than the rest of the Citadel. In the room there were many guards that looked like they were ready for a fight, but one stood out amongst the rest, his armour was black and a lot bigger than the others, “Your majesty, Commander Kenton reporting back” Kenton said as he kneeled in the mans presence, the man turned and slowly walked towards the group.

 

The group stood close together with Alux out in front as they followed the soldier. When they were finally in the presence of the Emperor Alux bowed his head on respect as Suri and the others looked on. Her bright blue cloak adding a small dash of cheery color to the otherwise dark and dank room.

 

“It is an honour to meet you, unfortunately the subject I called you here for is now unimportant, I assume you know where we are so I will skip the long explanation, a few hours ago, this gate opened and something from the other side came through” The Emperor said as he directed everyone attention towards the gate.

 

Alux looked at the gate and a concerned look came across his face, Nicolae gained a look of surprise on his face as he heard what the Emperor said. Its as if Alux and Nicolae knew something that the others in the group didn't. " Not just anyone can come and go through that gate. Whoever it was must have been a fiend of tremendous strength. . . Has anyone caught a glimpse of the escapist?"

 

“Yes I am well aware and no, the one guard who was down here was napping, he has since been arrested and thrown in the dungeon” The Emperor said “Now, I want you to study this gate and see if it is possible for anything else to come or go, and if it is, find a way to make sure they can’t come through, even if you have to build a wall in front of it” The Emperor said “As for your apprentices I want two of them assigned to Commander Kenton’s Guardians and the rest will be sent to the front lines in Aria” The Emperor ordered, he then left the room.

 

" Yes your Majesty." Alux said softly his face frozen with worry as the Emperor left. " Nicolae, Seanrick, Craig, and Arthur you four will be the ones heading to the front lines. Suri and Richmond are too young and inexperienced to go, so you two will stay behind and be guardians to the Commander." Suri had a panic stricken look on her face as she realized the severity of the situation. " But Master Alux, the front lines are a savage place to go, are you planning to get them killed?!" She said as Alux walked towards the gate and began examining it. " Suri, you are not far enough in your training to be able to go the front lines and survive. Seanrick and the others are more then capable of handling themselves so do not question my orders." Alux replied as Suri seemed to be getting even more distressed by the passing moment. " But we can't just let them do this !!" Suri said stepping forward as she grabbed Alux by the arm, tears coming from her eyes."Suri I said enough !" Alux shouted at her as Seanrick came forward and put his hand on Suri's shoulder. " Don't worry everything will be fine, I promise, we can take care of our own." Suri pulled out of his grip and scurried off to a corner of the room as she began to sob quietly. " Soon enough she will understand how unfair times of war can be." Alux commented stoically as Richmond seemed to be just as stressed out as Suri was but he held his emotion in.

 

Kenton came forward as Alux decided their roles “Those of you that are going to front lines return up the stair case, some officers will direct you to where you need to go, as for you two come with me” he said when he looked at Richmond and Suri and left up the stairs.

 

The group said their goodbyes and last words to eachother as those fated to go to war went up stairs following the officers as Richmond pulled Suri aside to follow the Commander, leaving Alux and his servant boy to inspect the giant gate. Alux held his hand above his head as a orb of light the size of a baseball appeared in his open palm to help him light up the gate in front of him so he could expect it.

 

Kenton lead the two to the armourer who started by taking their measurements and asked them what they wanted to be on their armour and what colour they wanted it to be, he also asked about weapons they wanted. Kenton leaned against the wall while it happened.

 

Richmond was quick to answer the questions the armorsmith asked, of course he wanted midnight blue armor with a silver design on it. As for Suri, she was slow to answer. Her mind seemed to be off someplace and her face full of worry. She choose a platinum colored armor with a attached black overskirt.

 

As soon as they finished talking to armourer Kenton lead them back to the tower that they arrived at earlier, “And this is where you will be staying” Kenton said as they arrived on one of the lower tower levels “Over there is where the beds are and since you are rookies you will be helping the carers” Kenton said indicating a small room to the side “The Guardians are a Dragon Force so you will have to become familiar with dragons, there are two ways to do it, this is the far easier way” Kenton said standing in the middle of the room, he flinched a little as the blue dragon from before climbed up the back of his armour “Lillian get down” he said trying to reach the dragon as it playfully held on.

 

" Alright . . . I think I understand now. Is dinner still going to be resuming or has it been cancelled? And will we be able to speak to Mr. Alux later on?" Suri asked him as Richmond looked around the room.

 

Mya thought about his proposition. Fighting the Emperor himself? How could he say it so easily? It really didn't matter though. She trained to fight him anyways. It was gonna be sooner or later that she had to make a decision. She nodded."Alright I'll accept your proposition. Give me a few minutes to pack. She walked back into her room and grabbed her life savings of money, a few books, a map, and a small jewelry box. She also wrote a note on her table to tell the priests and church members that she was leaving and will be back soon. She placed her belongings in a bag and walked back out to him."Alright I'm ready for departure."

 

Bheliar creeped onto the beach, first crawling, then slowly standing up, walking towards the shore line. Bheliar stood firm on the sand and looked at the sun rising in the distance. Bheliar then smiled and began walking, casually, towards a city...

 

A quick trust forward,

The fool could not match up to the speed of the claw wielding warrior. The three blades instantly pierced the man's chest and that was what brought the battle to a quick end. "fall here on this battlefield" Blade said as he reeled back his arm and turned away. The process was quick, he returned to his commissioner and received his pay. With eyes closed Blade set off on his path once more. For now he would travel through the Saradi Free Lands. Standing on top of a hill he looked down as a nice cool breeze blew past

 

“Wow really? It’s usually harder to get people to come along” he said as he waited outside for Mya, when she came back out he lead her outside as the sound of a dragon roar echoed through the area “Oh god, not again” Alastair said as he ran towards the source, a black dragon that wasn’t to far away from where Mya had been training before had trapped a priest under its foot and looked like it was about to eat him “Alyssa no!” he ordered as they approached, the dragon snarled at Mya before looking down as the priest as it liked its lips.

 

Seanrick was awoken by the ringing of a bell and glimmer of sunlight through the gray window curtains of the barrack he was sleeping in. Everyone who was destined for the front lines and who weren't departed slept in the barracks. Though Seanrick couldn't complain, it was either this or sleeping out in the stables and he'd rather deal with the stench of men then of the horses. Seanrick was sleeping on the top bunk, near the window so he could see out inside at the gloomy city before him. In the bunk below lay Nicolae but he was wide awake and flicking a bronze coin over and over between his fingers. Craig was awake too and Arthur was no where in site, he was perhaps out to take a walk like he normally did every morning. There was a knock at the door and right on cue Arthur came in with a smile on his face. " They are calling all soldiers to board the airships, the time for departure has begun. So boys lets get going." Seanrick nodded and slid off the top bunk as the other two walked outside of the room. Once they were outside, they caught glimpse of the airship field and the many airships for different uses that were parked. The largest one in the airfield was the one the soldiers were destined to board. It took a while for them to reach and soon they were at the foot of it.

Meanwhile. . .

A woman was screaming in the darkness and a blue glowing jewel lay on the ground in a pool of blood. Suri was on the ground and was unable to get up, she had no use of her legs and the blue moonlight bore down upon her. She felt helpless, afraid, and unsure what to do. A man in a grey hooded cloak came forward from the darkness, the moonlight lighting up his white shirt. He reached forward and grasped his palms around her neck. His hands were huge, slender, and had long fingernails. He was about to break her neck but he drew back as a voice out in the darkness called for him. He got up and walked off into the darkness without throwing another glance after Suri. Suri breathed a sigh of relief and looked up into sky which was almost blocked out by the dark branches of the trees above. . .

Suri shot up in her bed, her heart was racing from fear and her breathing stressed. She was sweating at the brow and a feeling of confusion rushed through her body. This wasn't the first dream of that nature she had in her lifetime, it was one of many, many whose origins or meanings she knew little about. Suri jumped out of the bed and walked over to the doors that lead outside onto the balconey, she wanted a little fresh air to calm her nerves. Suri rushed outside while still being dressed in her long white nightgown and held onto the rail, her hair flowing in the cold morning wind.

 

Mya dropped her stuff immediately and ran out to the dragon. "You better get that dragon under control! I don't want the town to go after you for a misfortune." She San in front of Alyssa. "Let go of the priest right now!" She had her hand on her sword in case it got to a bad situation. Se didn't want to hurt the dragon, but if it were to cause danger, she would have to put it down.

 

“Don’t tell her what to do, she might eat you” Alastair said standing between Alyssa and Mya “Alyssa, we had an agreement, you don’t eat any innocent people and you can go and eat all the bandits and wildlife you want, so take the claw off the priest and let him go” Alastair said as if he was talking to a child, the dragon followed his instructions and Alastair faced Mya “This is my dragon Alyssa”

“Nightmares?” Kenton asked coming onto the balcony “I’m sure there a lot different from the ones most suffer from” Kenton said as he leaned against the railing.

 

" I've been having them ever since I was a child and they are pretty bad. There is always so much blood and darkness. . ." She said gripping the rail and leaning her head down so her bangs would fall and cover her face. " I just don't know why I have them at all, I have no memories of my early childhood, my family, nothing." She said as a raven landed on a roof a few stories up and cawed loudly in the mountain wind. " Because of my dreams I always feel like someone is after me . . but I don't know who the hell it could be. "