Fantasy Kaizoic: Earth Reborn

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo did not move as silently and smoothly as Darrek, but he was still able to get the job done. Moving from point a to point b with relative ease. Upon reaching the back door, Kairo looked over at Darrek. The nerves building up inside of him. “This’ll be fun.” Kairo commented, giving Darrek a smile.

 

[Da Doofus]

“Hopefully it’ll be worth it too.” The Irokai smirked and ever so slowly opened the door to let Kairo leave first.
“Go on, I’m right behind you.”

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Got it.” Kairo nodded, taking the lantern from Darrek and stepping outside. The first thing he felt was the breeze of the outside air, along with the echoing sounds of the wildlife in the jungle. Normally a scene like this would have been peaceful and calming. But not right now. “We’re gonna have to make a big turn around the house. Can’t let anyone spot us from the manor.” Kairo whispered, lighting up the lantern as he began walking.

 

[Da Doofus]

“Well wait until we get in town before you light that.” Darrek quietly scolded before blowing out the lantern from behind him.

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Oh!” Kairo exclaimed almost a little bit too loudly. “I’m sorry” He added with a small laugh.

He continued to trudge forward towards where he remembered the Syndroid went down. It was a tough trail for Kairo, since his night vision, or lack thereof, made it challenging to navigate the area. But he continued to use the little visibility he had to his advantage. As soon as he was sure they were far enough away from the manor, the lantern was relit. Kairo audibly sighing at the fact that he could see properly again.
“Feels nice to be able to see.” He commented, his eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness. “You think any of Bazin’s men are out here?”

 

[Da Doofus]

“To be honest; maybe.” He admitted. “So let’s just get whatever we can and get back, ok?” He eyed the path ahead, being able to see past the light of the lantern.
“Take a left here.”

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo did as he was told, turning the corner. Looking around at Dakovis, he couldn’t help but feel a bit creeped out at the place. In the morning it merely looked like an abandoned town. But after the persistent destruction it experienced today, coupled with the grim lighting, the town looked like something straight out of a horror film. Kairo shuddered slightly, he didn’t know if it was from the cold or his nerves.

“Tell me when we’re getting close.” Kairo said, putting the lantern handle between his teeth as he pulled and armed his crossbow off his back. Before handing it to Darrek. “Take that just in case we see someone. I don’t think I can shoot well with my hand.” He added, the lantern out of his mouth and back in his hands.

 

[Da Doofus]

“You got it.” Darrek nodded, and took the lead ahead of Kairo.
After passing by the ruins of the avalanche and gunfight from earlier, the two find the building that the heavy armed Syndroid lay beneath.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo only needed to glance at the rubble that lay on top of the syndroid once before grimacing. Lifting up all of that might take Kairo ages, even with two working hands. He looked over at Darrek, a nervous smile on his face as he pointed at the rubble. “Uhhh. Might need a little help.”

 

[Da Doofus]

“Gotcha.” Darrek smirked and began heaving broken clumps of stone and splintered wood away from the area. He was careful to gently set down the stone so as to not make noise.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo would help out as well, clearing the smaller pieces of debris that he knew he could handle with just one hand. It wasn’t much help, but Kairo’d feel bad if he let Darrek do all the work. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long to clear this out.

 

[Da Doofus]

Once enough debris had been cleared, a faint shimmer of metal gleamed in the lantern light.
“Pay dirt.” Darrek smirked and lifted another chunk of rock.

“I knew you’d try something like this.” A female voice said nearby.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo jumped in surprised the prospect of loot now out of his mind. Any voice that wasn’t Darrek’s or his wasn’t good. He frantically looked around, armed with nothing but a rock. Kairo couldn’t help but feel underprepared.
“Who’s that?” Kairo whispered, the slightest hint of distress in his tone.

 

[Da Doofus]

Darrek groaned.
“Kairo . . . Who’s the only female for miles?”

As though on que, Seythe emerged from a nearby alley with her weapon lowered.
“Darrek . . .” She sighed. “You really messed up this time.”

The male Irokai snorted and dropped the stone he carried.
“Don’t play nice now, it’s out of character for you.”

“You think I wanted this?” She snapped. “I stood up for you with Bazin and now you do this?” She gestured to Kairo. “Just lob in with them?”

Darrek frowned. “Either get out or wait for Bazin to kill me.”

“No, Darrek. He wouldn’t. I would’ve convinced him-“

“Seythe, he’s a psychopath. I wouldn’t murder for him so he was gonna get rid of me.”

“He’s going to get rid of all of you now, you idiot.” The female retorted.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo’s hands relaxed as the immediate threat of danger dissipated. The stone he carried dropping out of his hands. Still, he remained weary and listened into the conversation. This felt like some kind of awkward exchange between exes. Which it probably was, just with much higher stakes. And Kairo couldn’t help but feel a little out of place, but that didn’t seem to matter right now. If Seythe is here, then who’s to say the others aren’t. “Going to get rid of all of us?” Kairo questioned. “Are there others with you right now?”

 

[Da Doofus]

“They’re over by the gate entrance scavenging armor from the dead Archaic.” She shrugged. “So what’s your idea this time to slip away?”

“Pffft . . . So you can blab to Bazin?”

“Darrek . . . You should know by now that I’m scared of him. I’ve kept my head down and played the part to stay alive.” She gestured to Kairo. “I told Bazin that you had experience with Archaic tech so he would include you on this job to keep you useful. And you screwed it all up.”

“Yeah yeah. You’re all heart.” Darrek rolled his eyes.

“You moron.” She curled a lip. “Just because it didn’t work out with us doesn’t mean I want you to die.”

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo looked over at Darrek, clearly concerned for his friend. It seemed like today would be full of revelations for the younger irokai, all of them not particularly good. But having Seythe here could help them out. Kairo was more then a little surprised that Seythe didn’t just kill them on the spot. But after listening to what she had to say, it sounded almost as if she wasn’t very willing to be working with Bazin. Maybe, just maybe....

“If you really don’t want him to die, then help us get out of here.” Kairo said, voice still weary of Seythe’s intention.

 

[Da Doofus]

“How?” Seythe asked. “Bazin has that whole canyon locked down from the gate onward.”

Darrek eyed Kairo warily, as though unsure how the human would reply.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo thought about it for a second. By the sounds of it, things were looking pretty bleak, and he wasn’t sure if Bazin would listen to Seythe. But it was their lives on the line, and Kairo at least needed to try.

“Do you think you could convince him to let his guard down for a few moments? Anything could work.” Kairo asked

 

[Da Doofus]

“You clearly don’t know Bazin.” Darrek joked, and then tensed.

Seythe cocked a brow. “What is it?”

Before an answer could be made, Darrek shoved Kairo out of the way as an arrow flew between the two, and three men charged from a building behind them. The lantern fell and shattered on the ground, spreading burning oil in a nearby spot. Seythe jumped in surprise at the ambush, and Darrek instinctively spun around to knock away the nearest human and take aim with the crossbow.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo fell on the ground with a thud as the ambush started. He looked around for a second, clearly dazed and confused. What the hell was going on? How could people have snuck up on him and Darrek so easily? He’d thought that they’d at least be able to hear them before they ambushed.

Propping his elbows on the ground, Kairo leaned himself up, trying to gain an understanding of his surroundings. Without the natural light of the sun, that would prove to be extremely hard. Kairo sighed to himself, grabbing a stone off the floor. It didn’t make him any less nervous, but at least he had something to defend himself.

 

[Da Doofus]

In the flickering light of the lantern, two men were attempting to bring the Irokai down with clanking chains. A third was aiming a bow and saw Kairo stand.
He snarled a broken toothed sneer and pulled out a knife to approach the mostly unarmed man as Darrek grunted to break free.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo tried his best to stay as calm as he possibly could at the moment. Albeit that wasn’t much. Kairo didn’t stand much of a chance at winning against the person charging at him. Considering his lack of close combat skills and his totalled hand. Not a good idea to go one on one with him unless Kairo wanted a stab wound. He looked over at the two men attempting to take down Darrek. They seemed occupied with him enough to ignore Kairo. This was gonna be a dumb move, but there wasn't’ much else he thought he could do. If he could free Darrek, maybe he could turn the tide of this battle in his favour.

Kairo charged as fast as he could towards one of the men holding Darrek back, and rammed as hard as he could into the man.

 

[Da Doofus]

Once he had impacted on the gang member, he let out a grunt and shoved Kairo away. Then, a pair of hands grabbed him. One hand wrenched into his hair and the other gripped his shoulder.
The would-be savior would then be thrown to the ground and the broken toothed man had his boot ready to stomp on Kairo’s neck.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo felt a sharp pain in his scalp, and a tight grip on his shoulder, but as soon as that had happened, the feelings had gone. It didn’t even closely mean he was out of the waters yet, because as soon as Kairo figured out what was going on. He found that the man who had tossed him to the ground was now ready to stomp his neck in half. Kairo did the only thing he could think of in the little time he had, and rolled to the right to dodge the hit. He’d figure out what to do after his neck was not in the crossfire.