Chapter 5 One of the Team
It takes Saphir and Justin a couple of days to get their information straight... crossreferencing dates with prophecies and calculating odds and such... also, going back to get the books that Saphir dropped. Brad and Ryan do not help with the researching part, as this would make the entire process take much, much longer.
Once again, as they have so many times before, the Dragoon Warriors gather in the library. Once again, as it has been so many times before, the large table is covered with open books and charts.
When they gather, Saphir stands to address them all.
“Whatever happens now... is our responsibility. The most ancient texts speak of an occurance of events... a 'flow' if you will. We set a flow of events into motion when we brought Arrowny back... and that last big bad that we have to fight couldn't have come to pass.”
Brad slaps his hand to his forehead...
“Damn it! A self-fullfilling prophacy. 'Arrowny will only return if there's one last evil to fight, because bringing Arrowny back allows the evil to come'.”
Saphir nods...
“Yeah... I'd really like to speak to the mage who told you about all of this. The writings are pretty clear... there's no way he couldn't have known. There are references,” Saphir pulls the nearest open book towards him and reads, “to a great evil spirit, trapped in a void dimension, which needs a physical body in order to return to this relm. I'd guess that Arrowny's left over 'cursed' body was just what it was waiting for... assuming that the void dimension Ryan was in is the same one this thing was trapped in.”
Arrowny shrugs...
“Let's just assume, based on our past luck with such things, that they are, in fact, the same void. So... what is this thing?”
Justin takes a deep breath...
“That's where everything gets confusing. All the references to the evil that just got raised... but nowhere does it say that it is the thing we're supposed to fight. We're supposed to try and stop that 'flow' that Saphir was talking about. It's a whole merger of events that, acording to the math, was set in motion somewhere along the lines of millions of years ago. We need to fight against the flow of events that will lead the world to chaos... or something like that.”
Brad swears loudly... everybody looks at him...
“I really wish that Sharod dude was around so he could answer some questions for us.”
Justin suddenly becomes very quiet, like he heard a very light sound and is trying to figure out what it was. He snaps up, looking at Brad.
“What did you say this Sharod guy looks like?”
Brad shrugs...
“Mageish... robe... and... mage-like... I didn't really get a good look.”
Justin motions toward Arrowny.
“News, TV, on, now, go!”
Arrowny rushes through the door leading to the living room. He switches on the television, and flicks through to the local news channel.
The voiceover says something about a 'man throwing some sort of fire at people who appear to be chasing him while dressed up as medievil knights'...
The knights are easy enough to recgonize... they are Knights of Human Purity... and Brad knows who the other man is...
“DOUBLE DAMN IT! That's Sharod!”
Saphir starts toward the basement...
“If he can answer some of my questions, I guess we should save him. Come on guys... let's gear up.”
* * * * * *
A few moments later, and the Dragoon Warriors are standing just down the road from where the fighting is taking place. Sharod is doing well, taking on twelve of the Knights... but his magics seem weak, and they are closing in on him.
The mage quickly glances over his shoulder, and sees the Dragoon Warriors. He stops fighting, and rushes toward them... a look of panic across his face.
“Help me!”
Arrowny shrugs...
“Justin... Brad... hold them off please?”
“Sure...”
“Nothing better to do anyway...”
Brad and Justin head off to face the Knights. Arrowny and Saphir wait for Sharod to catch his breath. It takes a few moments, but finally Sharod starts talking to them. Arrowny, not completly understanding the whole situation, backs off and lets Saphir do the questioning. From his position, he can hear both the conversation, and the voices of the Knights from their fight behind him.
“You're the guy who told Brad how to do the thing that he did, right?”
“Yes.”
“You know you kinda screwed us over on that one, right?”
“I am aware of that fact.”
“That's it Knights! Surround them!”
“And now you want our help?”
“I was only doing what I had to do... for my Master.”
“Um... Sir... the surrounding part doesn't seem to be working...”
“Your Master? Some big evil?”
“That's right.”
“I can't hit this one... he's got some kind of energy field around him!”
“Probably part of this whole 'evil flow of events' thing that we're supposed to stop, right?”
“I'm fairly sure that he is.”
“OH GOD! MY ARMS!”
“So... what? Why're you here, asking for help?”
“My Master turned his back on me. He is gathering an army, and he traded the lives of all magical humans to the Knights of Human Purity as the price of their membership... I was the one who made it possibal for him to return... and he turned his back on me... he offered me up as the first sacrafice to Purity.”
“WHY IS THE ONE WITH THE AXE ONLY CUTTING OFF OUR LIMBS AND STABBING OUR NON-VITAL ORGANS RATHER THAN KILLING US OUTRIGHT?”
“So... if we save you right now, you'll help us beat back your Master?”
“Yes... I swear it.”
“I hope I just get electrocuted into unconsiousness by the other one.” ZZZZZAAAAAPPPPP! “... thank you...”
At this point, Arrowny gets back into the conversation.
“Okay. We'll help you. Whatever your own goals were, you've got a hand in getting me back here. So... I guess I kinda owe you one.”
Brad and Justin walk up behind them.
“Guys...” Justin sounds a little nervous. “The Knights are all either knocked out, or missing too many body parts to attack anymore. But... there's a problem.”
Arrowny turns to face them.
“What problem?”
Brad points back past where the Knights are laying in a rather large pool of their own blood and limbs... far down the street... to the hundred plus demons heading straight toward them.
Sharod starts to panic...
“It's the Hetron! His most loyal servents.”
As the hundred demons get closer, the Warriors can see that they are each armed with rather nasty looking weapons. Arrowny nods toward Saphir...
“Warp us now?”
“Can't...” Saphir is tapping his FENRIR(sp?) card against the blade of his Glaive... but there is no effect. “There must be some anti-magic thing around us...”
Arrowny lets out a sigh. As the Hetron get closer and closer, he turns to Brad.
“Shall we run for our lives?”
Brad nods...
“Yes... lets!”
The Warriors, and Sharod, take off in the other direction. They manage to stay ahead of the Hetron, but after taking a few side streets and cutting through some parking lots, they run into a wall on their way down an alley...
... a short, little, old man, who, just like a wall, will not let them pass. They know this short old man... he once gave them a book which helped them defeat their first great enemy, Joseph.
He is Morning Star... the Chaos Lord.
Saphir tilts his head slightly to the side... a little confused...
“Morning Star? Um... didn't think we'd be seeing you so soon. How're you doing... after being torn to peices and such by Joseph?”
Morning Star smiles.
“I am well, thank you.”
Saphir makes a polite attempt to step around the Choas Lord... but Morning Star does't move to the side... he just stands there, with them looking down on him... with a big smile on his face. Brad lets out a little laugh.
“Ha! You're not going to let us by, are you?”
“No...”
“In fact...,” Brad turns to Sharod, “I'm guessing he's one of the army your Master put together, right?”
Both Sharod and Morning Star nod slowly. Arrowny turns to Saphir...
“Can you Warp yet?”
“No...”
Arrowny sighs. He turns slightly, and catches Justin's eye. The Protector glances innocenly toward the wall of one of the buildings surrounding the alley... Justin nods ever so slightly.
Ryan turns back to face Morning Star... he clenches his fist, and it glows a cold blue with magic.
“Gotta go through you then!”
Morning Star laughs.
“Fought me before... haven't you? Know that I'm strong... can't beat me. You'll die trying...”
Ryan sighs...
“Yeah... you're right. We shouldn't even try then.”
Quickly, Arrowny and Justin turn toward the building. Ryan sends an ice spell at the wall, quikc freezing the brick and metal with his inborn magical powers. Justin uses a forcefield to break through the frozen wall. In less than a second, there is a large enough hole for all the Warriors, plus Sharod, to get through at once...
... and once again, the running starts.
The building they broke into is a mall, closed for business on this day. It's got stores all over the place... and even though they're running for thier lives, Justin and Saphir have to physically push Ryan and Brad from the window at the Sony Store... and again at the comic shop... and once more at the store with the new Nintendo display case...
By the time they reach the front doors of the mall, Justin and Saphir are quite winded...
... and are not at all pleases to see yet another army of demons standing just outside the Mall. Saphir smiles, recgonizing them as Maylor demons by their telltail horns, which protrude down from the forehead, rather than up as in most demon breeds.
“Guys... it's okay! These are Maylor demons... my family has a peace treaty with them. They'll help us!”
He steps outside the doors, and holds his Glaive to the side in a non-threatening way.
“Noble Maylor! I am Saphir of the Poirier family. I call upon our peace pact, and ask for your assistance!”
The closest Maylor punches Saphir hard enough that he falls back through the glass door. The other Warriors shield their eyes from the onslaught of sharp shards.
Saphir is bleading from various cuts along his arms and back...
“I remeber them being more friendly...”
Brad helps him to his feet. Arrowny turns to Sharod...
“They joined up too... eh?”
“Yes.”
Saphir spits out a little blood, and glares at the Maylor with hatred.
“KUKOO-TE TEAE-SEE-HA FUEE-LU-GE EAY-DE AEMM DEOO RAAHMM KUOO-HA OO-FU AE PEEAY-DE-LU-RA WE KEPT THE PEACE! My family protected you from the humans and demons that wanted to wipe your race from the Earth! WE GAVE YOU OUR MOST POWERFUL CARD AS A SIGN OF OUR PEACE!”
Brad shakes his head...
“You gave away your most powerful magic to a bunch of demons?”
Saphir shrugs...
“Well... my great, great, great grandfather did...”
“That was a silly thing to do... don't you think?”
“Knowing what I know now... yeah... it kinda was.”
Saphir steadies himself, and points the blade of his Glaive at the lead Maylor.
“Why have you broken the peace?”
“Our leader, Skree holds an older loyality... we are the army of the Four.”
Saphir's eyes widen in shock and fear. He quickly turns to his comrades.
“Guys... we have to get the HELL out of here... NOW!”
Arrowny just laughs a little.
“Great idea... how?”
Brad steps foward, axe and sword in hand.
“If I may give my opinion... I say we kill them all.”
“Brad...” Justin shakes his head, “That's a good plan, but it gets us killed. Arrowny, Sharod and I can hold them off long enough for Saphir to figure out how they're blocking his Warp spell. When he knows, you can kill whatever is doing it... okay?”
Brad nods...
“As long as I kill something... I'm good.”
“But why kill my army... what have they done to you?”
The Hetron army parts, and standing in the center is a demon... unlike any other that the Warriors have ever seen... mostly because it looks very much like Ryan Arrowny... same body shape, same facial features... everything except the skin color and the rows of spikes down each side of his nose.
Sharod practically shakes with fear...
“Lord... Minion...”
“Stop shivering Sharod... you did not fear me when under my command, why fear me now? Just because I gave all of my armies free reign to kill you and all of your magic using human breed? Hardly seems like a fitting reason. I'm not here to fight, anyway. I only wish to see the group of Warriors who stand against my mission.”
Minion takes a sidelong glance at them... first at Justin, sensing the powers of the technomage... then at Saphir, knowing the magics he can control... then at Arrowny, fighter and mage... and then at Brad...
“Human... this one does not even have any power. I am... unimpressed. You may kill them.”
He circles around the group, and stands beside Morning Star, who teleports both himself and Minion from the mall. The remaining Hetron and Maylor close in for the kill.
The Warriors spring into action.
Justin sets up a forcefield around them, stopping the Maylor and the Hetron from getting too close. Sharod and Arrowny pick off the weaker ones with spells... fire and ice and lightning fly all around. Saphir concentrates, trying to focus on whatever is blocking his magic... Brad waits beside him, ready to strike.
A few of the stronger Hetron and Maylor break through. Arrowny breaks off his magic attack, allowing Sharod to take the full weight of that aspect, to deal with them. Justin holds his own against the one or two that get by Ryan and Sky Render, but he's putting so much into the force field that he can't fight them of properly. Brad helps him out while waiting for Saphir's signal, taking the head of one with his sword, and gutting the other with his axe.
Arrowny slashes right and left, taking heads and severing limbs with extraordanary percision. He uses some of the newer fighting tequnicks that the late Master of Arms taught him, and even his Dragoon Warrior comrads are surprised at his agile movments.
With the army's numbers limited by space, and Sharod's spells keeping most of them at bay, Arrowny, Justin, and Brad give Saphir enough time...
... his eyes snap open as he points at one of the Hetron, about twenty feet into the mass of demons outside the forcefield. This demon is unique... a mage dressed in a long cloak...
“BRAD... THERE, IN THE CLOAK!”
A quick count gives Brad twenty Hetron between himself and the target... a quick run, a back spin, and a wide swing with his axe takes that number down by four. He stabs through the throat of the next nearist, and his blade goes right through the back of its neck, and into the head of the one behind it... two more gone.
A few fireballs from Sharod and some throwing knives from Arrowny and Brad has six fewer obstacles... and a well placed forcewave from Saphir knocks the remaining eight to the ground. The Hetron mage looks at Brad with fear in his eyes... and that look is frozen forever on its face... which is no longer anywhere near its body... Saphir has his magics back.
Justin pushes all of his power into the forcefield, causing it to push out in a great flash of light, knocking all of the attacking demons to the ground. The Warriors and Sharod gather round Saphir, and with a word, the tap of a card, and a flash of light, they are gone from the mall, leaving an army of angry demons behind.
* * * * * *
“There was a time when demons from this world were thought to be inferior to those of all other relms.”
Saphir starts his explination as if reading directly from a text book. He isn't... but it seems that way. Years ago, he probably would have tried to use a flow chart and timeline to help keep Brad and Arrowny's attention on the information... but even that didn't work. Now he just hopes they can stop yawning during his talk long enough to pick up some usefull information... and if they reach over the arm of the couch and pick up the Gamecube or PS2 controlers and start a round of Soul Caliber, he'd might as well forget it...
“Millions of years ago, before the time of man, the demon Earth was constantly under attack from other Hellish deminsions. The Earth demons had no way of combating these invaders... until the day that the Four came foward. Minion, the fighter... Xavier, the mage... Black, who ruled over all the laws of nature and creation... and Emporer, whom united them all.
None of them were particulary powerful... they were not gods by any stretch of the imagination... but they had one advantage over all other demons... they got along, even though they were each from different races.
The unity they showed impowered the lesser demon races... and they too united under the rule of the Four... and a vast army was formed, and the army drove out the invaders, and protected the demon Earth from harm. Two of the most powerful races in the armies were the Hetron, and the Maylor... both under the direct command of Minion. Until tonight, I thought the Hetron were all but extinct... and the Maylor were supposed to have a peace treaty with my family... but that is all beside the point.
The Four ruled the Earth for one million years... give or take... until one of the earliest races of man used powerful magics to seal away their demonic essences in four different 'prison' dimensions.
When we released Arrowny from the void, we left his body for Minion to inhabit... and he came through as well.”
They all nod in agreement. Brad stands from the couch, and turns toward Sharod.
“It seems to me that you would have known all of this before you sent me on all of those missions.”
Sharod nods...
“I did. But, I was not strong enough to defeat all of the remaining monks who sealed away the Four in the first place. Their magics could have defeated me, and I could not have survived in an actual battle. You, however, were able to kill them all. I used you.”
Brad's eyes are wide.
“You mean... those guys I killed... were mostly... ... ... good?”
Sharod waves the question off...
“It does not matter now. What matters is that Minion's armies will cover the Earth if not stopped, and they will kill all magically inclined humans, and turn the rest into slaves for the several races of demon. I need protection from them... and in return, I will aid you in your fight.”
Justin crosses the room, and places a hand on Sharod's shoulder.
“We will ensure that Minion is not responsibal for your death. You are very brave to offer us your assistance. It will be helpful.”
Justin turns and walks out of the living room. They hear the door to his computer room close and lock behind him.
Arrowny shrugs, and turns to the other three in the living room.
“Okay guys... lets talk battle stratagy!”