Fantasy Embers of a Shooting Star (Private)

[egglover]

The two Knights clashed blades, metal singing in the wind as the traitor spoke through gritted teeth, "Me? I'm the traitor? I swore to protect, not to destroy!"

Both of them stepped backwards, a pile of Knights and bodies at their feet. A few of Sentrius' men were still alive, staring down the attacker beside him. It was then that Sentrius noticed that the traitor was not part of his crew, nay, he was not even part of this sector of Knights. His armour was adorned with the crest and colours of the Royal family. A Knight guard of the castle in Sor.

The man stepped backward slowly. Civilians were beginning to make a run for the ships. Snizel, up on his sniper perch, was no where to be seen.

 

[obscured_light]

Nai dropped to the ground as she could hear one of her knights screaming, immobilized from shock as the sound of clanging armor and outcries of pain filled the air. They weren't the only ones caught off guard but her mind was on the situation at hand. The fire was too large and even at the ground level, she could feel the heat of the inferno. The two knights closest to the exit scrambled to get back out into the snow to the hiss of steam and melting snow. One of the knights was buckling to the ground as metal melted onto their skin as they were yanked onto the ground. It was too late as whimpers sounded behind Nai as she quickly made her way along the ground, trying to get away from the inferno until it died down.

The knights who had scrambled to the safety of the outside quickly rolled to their sides, one unsheathing his sword as they looked to see the source of the flames.

 

[PiePillager]

"Protect!? We are protect-" Sentrius began, his eyes suddenly widening as he spotted the crest on the Knights armor. "You....who are you? You're not a part of my unit! A royal guard....this can't be real," Sentrius shook his head. "A royal guard!" Sentrius gritted his teeth as he raised his shield to bash the guard in the face with his every next syllable. "Would not! Slaughter! His own! Countrymen!" Sentrius shouted.

 

[egglover]

One of Nai's Knights saw the figure in the snow, a torrent of fire flowing through the palms of her hands, and for a moment he stood there in shock. Dark red hair whipped in the blizzard around her, a familiar face within, one they were ordered to keep alive.

"You're--" the Knight began, but was blasted with a fireball and sent flying backward.

The blazing tornado stopped, and the attacker behind it stood within melted snow at the entrance of the lodge, "Quickly! Get out of here! Run to the shipyard! Your path should be clear!"

A few of the lodges captives glanced at Nai on the ground and made a run for it past her toward the exit. Toward freedom. The old man holding the baby didn't spare Nai a second look as he ran past the Phoenix girl and into the blizzard, following the others. The only two left in the lodge were the other Phoenix fighters, their only exit blocked by Nai who began to stand. The fire Phoenix stared at Wing and Vi, "Hurry up! I - I have a ship if you don't! We need to get outta here!"

***

On the other side of the lodge, blocked by a wall of ice, the royal guard was getting absolutely pummeled by Sentrius! Overwhelmed by Sentrius' strength, he was unable to fight back until he pummeled his helmet off to reveal the Knights face. He was ordinary looking, not someone he had ever met before, appearing to be a native of Capima Islands. Curly brown hairs sprawled out into the snow as the smaller man tried to block Sentrius' attacks.

As the shield went to bash down into his face once more, the royal guard dodged at the last second, maneuvering in a way that threw Sentrius off of him. When he stood, bruised and bloodied, the other Knights began to approach with swords at the ready. The man blinked, "Well shit."

Then, he did something no one expected. He turned and ran.

 

[obscured_light]

"Rhyker!" Ektal cried out as she got to her feet, his body landing a few feet away. He grunted as he fell, arching his back but quickly laid back flat as his stomach touched the still hot metal of the slightly melted armor. He exhaled sharply and raised a hand, Ektal quickly switching focus at the signal. People were running past her, the fire pheonix in the doorway blocking her from the other knights and her commander.

Ektal hesitated, uncertain of who to go after but a sharpy cry ended that.

"Phoenix!" was all Nai shouted but it was enough for Balya Ektal. Unsheathing her daggers, she aimed them at the phoenix's back, waiting. Inside the inn, the remaining three knights and Nai were getting to their feet. Three phoenixes. Four of them. Six, if she counted her knights outside. Nai looked to the her three knights and held up 2 fingers.

The knights began to move the moment they saw the signal. The three of them took Nai's spot in the doorway, facing towards Vi and Wing. Nai stood behind them, facing the phoenix who had caught her off guard. It didn't happen often. Nai sprinted towards the fire phoenix head on, sword raised. The three knights fanned out slightly, two within the room with Vi and Wing and one still in the doorway. All had swords drawn. A threat. A call for them to make their first move.

 

[PiePillager]

"Damn it.....she ran off...." Sentrius shook his head. "Traitors in the ranks of the Royal Guards...but how deep does this conspiracy go?!" He turned back to the lodge and grimaced. "More Knights....how many have been...Nai?" Sentrius stated, dumbfounded at the Knight standing before him. It was her. She hadn't changed at all since their academy days. "Nai...Nai, it's me! What are-"

"Tetran!" a voice called out. A wounded Snizel was the one who cried out. His arm was shot given the hole pierced through the armor on his left shoulder and the blood leaking from it. "Don't know what happened but we were set up...."

"That much, I can tell," Sentrius noted, drly in an impatient tone. "We've got the phoenix surrounded now though, thanks to some...unexpected reinforcements!"

"Good..." Snizel spat onto the ground. "Cause even with a bum arm, I'm a pretty good shot..." he sneered, raising his gun with his good arm. "And if we wanna question these birds later, here's a shot that'll do the trick!" he raised his arm and fired what appeared to be a lone bullet from his gun that landed over the heads of Nai's Knights and onto the floor of the lodge.

Sentrius, realizing what had occurred, had begun to shout, "Knights! Helmets up!" The pellet Snizel shot began to erupt into a plume of smoke, or gas to be more precise toward the two Phoenixes' faces. "Fast acting stuff, this is...." Snizel grinned. "These Phoenix will be drooling on the floor in two minutes!"

 

[Wing06]

Wing was astonished at Vi's power and the power of the fire-wielding stranger. The Knights turning on one another was a welcome surprise, but it was a short-lived distraction, and the two young Phoenix had been surrounded before they could even escape. "Resistance?" Wing whispered, his eyes scanning the remaining Knights, pulling Vi back as the strange pellet began to spew gas. "Please work..." he muttered, pointing his palm at the ground and swirling the gas into a ball. It grew larger and larger as the pellet expelled its charge. He lobbed the ball of gas through a shattered window, the attack dissipating in the ever-raging blizzard.

"Still surrounded, but we can make a break for it." Wing reached into his pocket and pulled out a small comm-link device. "Two minutes, let's go!" He grabbed Vi's hand and pulled her through the room, throwing the Knights into the wall with his wind. The two flew through the back door, racing past Nai, thanks to their combined power of wind and ice, as she charged the brave Phoenix that chose to stand with Vi and Wing. "Let's go! Wing shouted, hoping the Phoenix would follow.

The hum of a small spacecraft bearing the crest of the Guardians flew over Sentirus and his men.

As the craft approached, Wing whipped up the wind around the trio. The ship came in low, and Wing lifted Vi off the ground with ease, tossing her into the ship's cockpit, followed by the stranger. He turned and gave the still pursuing Knight Commander a small two-fingered salute before jumping into the now cramped craft and closing the hatch. With the ship in his control, Wing slammed the throttle forward as he made his way for the hanger.

"Thank you for your help; I'm Wing." He said over his shoulder to the Fire Phoenix. The three had somehow cramped together comfortably in the normally one-person ship. He hoped the resistance Vi spoke of was close. The Knights wouldn't be too far behind.

 

[egglover]

"Nice to meet ya, Wing! Name's Siana," the Fire Phoenix pulled off her hood to reveal a young girl, a child, with wild red hair and a large grin, "Hey, hate to ruin the fun but we left my friend back there!"

***

In the hanger of Asteroid Eight, a beaten and bloodied royal guard stumbled through crowds of people escaping onto ships, pushing through panicked Phoenix and non-Phoenix alike. Children cried in the arms of their parents, whilst others held the corpses of their loved ones, eyes wide and distant. A couple of brave Phoenix stood at the entrance, ready to fight the Knights and make their last stand if they must. They had let the royal guard within, clearly not part of the Knights that sought to destroy them, but not before asking him to stay and fight valiantly to the very end. A bruised face stared back at them in horror, "No!"

He fled before any of the brave fighters could say a word and hurried toward his ship. Parked within the other ships stood his gold adorned Sorillian made craft, medium of size and new, almost unused. Much to the royal guards dismay a line of random strangers were gathering into the entrance.

"Whoa, hey! Hey! What's the DEAL?!" he cried, "This is my ship!"

An old man holding a baby looked up at the guard and pleaded, "Please! We need refuge lad, please help us escape!"

"What?! Absolutely n--"

"Yer wouldn't deny an old man with a babe, now would ye?" the elderly one interrupted. Other refugees stared at the royal guard. The baby did too.

With a groan the guard wiped his face, somehow making the blood smears worse, and caved in, "Alright, fine, but no shoes on the seats, they're premium Capima leather! Hey," he grasped a lady by the arm, "You seen a young girl? Stupid, red hair, completely the worst?"

She shook her head.

"Shit. Shit, goddamnit Siana, shit!" The Royal Guard swore as a speeding one person ship flew overhead. In the blur of the window he thought he saw a streak of orange, followed by a familiar dumb grin staring back at him. "Oh my god."

***

Siana shrugged, "Eh, on second thoughts, he'll be fine."

***

Inside the now cramped ship the royal guard began to pilot, muttering words of frustration under his breath. Beside him the old man sat, rocking the baby back and forth, "Thanks again, lad."

"You didn't give me much choice, old man." The other man grumbled.

"Old Tan. M'name is Tanver. This is, well, not me child!"

The royal guard rolled his eyes, "Clearly. You're like 80 years old."

With a shrug Tan brushed off his comment, "What's yer name, lad?"

As they left the hanger and into the stars they flew into what felt like a war. Knight ships fought the escapees, darting and shooting down star crafts in a horrid battle of life and death. The Knights had been waiting in their ships, of course, in case of any Phoenix who dared flee. The royal guard maneuvered his ship between gun fire and debris, losing sight of the small one seater ship that had left just a few moments before and instead concentrating on trying to keep them all alive.

"Parven," the former royal guard replied within the chaos, "My name is Parven Penn."

 

[DarKnight36]

"I hope so," Vi agreed, watching the fading asteroid with a frown. "I feel terrible. I know I said there was a resistance but..." She sighed. "Let me start over."

Turning as best she could to face the others, Vi smiled. "My name is Hvitur, but just call me Vi. I've sort of been on the run before the announcement even. Not to get into too much detail but let's just say the Knights have been looking for me personally. There was a group of Phoenix who have been... helping me. The resistance I mentioned. I never met up with them because, well, I thought they were kinda loony to be honest. But now..."

She shrugged. "Maybe they knew this was coming."

 

[egglover]

" Knew?" Siana scoffed, "Who could've known the king would murder his own daughter? Or - or murder half of the Sorillian population?!"

The young girl hesitated, "Granted, we've never been much popular us Phoenix. Who is this resistance you speak of?"

 

[obscured_light]

It was a disaster.

Nai knew it the moment Sentrius called her name, causing her to freeze up as though she had been hit by the ice phoenix. Her blade lowered and the armored helmets of her knights turned towards her, uncertain if their eyes were deceiving them. There was no ice on her but there was smoke everywhere in the room just a few moments later. The knights turned back to their prey but were blown back by wind. Their back founds the wall, Nai's cry cut short as the pain reminded her what she had been doing.

Ektal ran inside to check on the group but the phoenixes were escaping. She stepped to run back outside but a hand reached out and grabbed her ankle. It was Nai, shaking her head as she got to her feet. Her other knights were all rising too, confused by Nai's action.

"It is a loss," was all she said and a couple of the knigths recoiled as though she had burned them. Ektal shook her head in disbelief.

"We can chase after them. We have a ship!" she cried out in outrage, uncertain of what was going through Nai's head. Had she received a concussion?

"It is a loss," Nai repeated firmly in a cold tone. "We are heading back. We have been found and I..."

She hesitated, uncertain. Under the helmet, her red eyes shut tightly as anger and disappointment surged through her. There was still weakness in her.

"I was ordered not to pursue if we lost our targets," she lied, followed by the truth, "I will talk to the higher ups and explain. None of you will be punished on my behalf."

The armored helmets turned to look at each other, one raising their hand to remove their helmet as most of the smoke had dissipated until a groan interrupted them. Rhyker was stumbling towards them and at the sight of the melted armor, they turned to carry him back to the ship. Nai was the last to leave but before she did, she took one last look at Sentrius and his knights. She stood in the doorway for a few moments and slowly, raised her hand to wave goodbye before following after in haste to get back to the ship. There would be no sweet words exchanged today.

~*~

A light rain began to fall as two cloaked individuals made their way through the narrow gaps of the thick forest. Their thudding footsteps alerted the animals nearby but there were a few that didn't care. Neither of the two looked at their surroundings but the rustling of the leaves was not a fault of the rain alone. The cloaked figure in front tightened and loosened his grip on the huge blade in his left hand. The one behind him followed closely, the faint clinking of links coming together accompanying every step.

In front of them, just as the clouds began to disperse to display the orange of the sky, the trees parted into one of the few open spaces they had come across. A massive amount of vines hung on a lot of the trees that surrounded the space and flowers of a blood red hue grew in the patch before them. The figure in front stopped and held a hand up, causing the follower to stop.

"This is it?" a gruff, feminine voice asked in disbelief, her cloak rising slightly as she moved a hand to her hip.

Her guide said nothing as he approached the mass of vines and foliage. They made sure to avoid the flowers growing and went directly for the far edge of the roughly circular area, slicing at the vines with their large blade. Slowly, the entrance of the cave began to be revealed and when an opening big enough for a singular person had been made, the guide stopped and lowered his blade.

"It's home," was all he said as he headed on inside. The second figure made a short exhale through their nose, dubious on how reliable this guide truly was. They turned to look behind them but the trees all looked the same, no part of the forest distinguishable from another. She sighed and then, somewhat reluctantly, followed the guide inside, hoping it wasn't a decision she would regret.

 

[Wing06]

Wing felt the little hope he had for finding a real resistance fade. "What were you being hunted for? He asked Vi, trying to imagine what the Knights would want with her before the culling. He felt that their new addition, Siana, knew more than she was letting on, too. She mentioned leaving her friend behind, and Wing quickly noted that friend was a Royal Guard; sure, there could be those sympathetic to the Phoenix in their ranks, but he wasn't about to trust anyone just yet.

"Honestly, nothing makes any sense anymore, but I know we aren't going to last long on the run without a place to hide, and if either of you know someone willing to help us, well, they may be our only chance right now."

 

[PiePillager]

"What's our next move?" Snizel sighed, slumping down on the snow-riddled ground. It had been a long night and the cold didn't even phase him now. Sentrius didn't answer right away, instead, he stood silent, giving the Knight Commander a small wave as she and her forces packed into their ship and began to leave the asteroid. "...Tetran?" Snizel repeated, learning forward. "You know the Knight Commander?"

"We were in the same unit at the academy," Sentrius explained flatly.

"Ah..." Snizel nodded, speaking in a tone that gave some understanding. "So, why'd she break up with you?"

"Knights! Collect the wounded," Sentrius turned around to face the others as Snizel snickered in the background. "We' do what we can for them until we make it back to the fleet and report to the General."

***

Far behind the ship the phoenixes had escaped on, was another, smaller vessel. It followed them from a distance and was a personal-class vessel. Small enough to fit only one person.

 

[DarKnight36]

"Sor wanted to use me as a weapon," Vi explained to Wing, grimacing. "A couple of others like me were at this secret facility, I guess. I don't really remember much about before, but I escaped. With some help. Been on the run for a few months now." She sighed. "I don't know what happened to the others. Maybe they escaped too. I hope so at least."

Vi squinted at the navigation. "I was going to meet a contact on Ceegum before this whole thing. Guess we could head there if y'all want. Maybe see if these rebels can actually help us?"

 

[Wing06]

Wing thought for a moment, his fingers dancing over the navi-computer. "Ceegum is the only shot we have right now. I'll get us there, and we can try to find these rebels," the navi-computer chirped as Wing locked in the coordinates, "Let's just hope they're still alive..."


A few hours passed in silence as the sub-light engines propelled the ship through what was once a void filled with wonder and adventure. Wing reminisced about his first time seeing the stars in the blackness of space, the intense light of the sun, and the awe-inspiring beauty of the nebulas. Now, space seemed cold, unforgiving, and hostile. There was no sense of wonder, only dread.

Ceegum came into view, and Wing noted the various communication buoys that orbited the planet. A Vanguard class ship popped up on Wing's radar and, a second later, began hailing the small fighter. "Great..." Wing muttered, throwing the throttle forward as the computers chimed out a lock-on status. "Hang on!" He shouted, plunging the ship past the Sorilian Vanguard and into Ceegum's atmosphere.

Oceans and lush continents filled the viewport, and cities could be seen passing below as they got closer to the ground. "Vi, we don't have much time. Where should I land?"

 

[DarKnight36]

"North-east quadrant, city's called Virtol," Vi said, pointing out the window. "That one, there. Probably want to head into those trees or something though. The Knights will probably be looking for us after that stunt."

 

[Wing06]

The ship set down silently in a small clearing. Birds flew from the treetops as the canopy opened. "We'll head to the city on foot from here," He started, jumping from the cockpit before reaching his hand up for Vi. "I've got you," he smiled. "Hopefully, your contacts have managed to lay low."

The fugitive trio followed the nearest road into the city, arriving as the sun was setting. Around them, people carried on with their daily lives, unaffected by the chaos plaguing the young Pheonix troop. Knights and city guards mingled with civilians, smiling and greeting one another as they crossed paths. It all felt so normal, Wing thought, throwing his hood up to hide his face better.

"Any idea where they may be in the city, Vi?" He asked, eyes scanning the shop windows, his stomach growling.