-CHAPTER TWO-
Being born into the Guard Families of Regnus was always an honour. It meant that I was going to stand aside fellow heroes, watching and protecting the people.
Regnus is changing though, and The Quiet Night has passed. Construction on a barrier wall to protect the King and Kingdom is underway.
***
"Sire!"
A garrison soldier is suddenly thrown his King by his Commandant. Horrified is his first instinct. What could possibly be responsible for this?
"Take His Highness to-..." The soldier's fingertips and ears feel abuzz. He didn't have to hear where D'tera wanted him to be taken, he was gripping onto the King's cloak as tightly as he was to his chest plate, and running.
After some travel, the man can hear his and the King's breaths.
"Sire, what-?"
"Something!... Anything!"
King Maloin falls to his knees, still desperately holding onto the soldier, making for a disgraceful display.
"A wall… a barrier! Build us something to keep us safe!"
Roused villagers surround the King and his supporting soldier. Quickly carrying the King off towards the castle,
the soldier shouts, "You heard him! King Maloin demands that construction begin now!"
***
Its purpose is solely to quell the fearful Maloin. D'tera wonders how a wall could protect from something capable of wiping the slate clean of our Guardians.
Regnus is fervent in its change, with a livelihood through necessitating labour, so the only thing that's noticeably fallen to a sadder state since the Quiet Night is the towering King's Castle.
Curtains are draped over each tall pane of stained glass, parted only to let in a few strands of sunlight to illuminate the great, but bleak, halls inside. Lined at every other pillar stand armoured knights, part of the Kingdom's Garrison.
The Garrison troops man the boundaries of Regnus. Unlike the Elite Guard, Diagis' previous regiment, these soldiers are everymen from the Kingdom, giving their servitude in the name of the King. Benefits and otherwise outstanding.
Typically these troops depart for scouting missions, stand at the boundary gates, and patrol inside the castle. They're trusted to walk the kingdom town, police its inhabitants, and keep safe the aging villagers who have no sons or daughters to protect them should the case arise.
Their families, and the remaining families of the Elite, are all that remain to keep watchful eyes of Regnus and keep heed of the King's shaky fortifications. Eyes of those in service and those in not, all alike stare towards the King's Castle.
***
Above and away, King Maloin sits down a long and narrow hall, alone at his throne atop a white staircase. He is slumped over to his side, clutching the arm of his seat as if to free himself from drowning in an icy depth. Maloin shutters as he plays over and over his horror, stuck in a loop of reliving the loss of his friends and family, the latter proving to be his true prison.
"That crown suits you ill, boy!"
"You'll fail them all!
"What could you possibly do!?"
The voices taunt relentlessly.
At that moment, a crashing door wakes him from his discomfort. "Wha-!" Maloin shoots up, letting his eyes adjust down the hall. The sunlight slowly fills the long decorated pathway of armour and fancy draped fabrics over windows - standing as tall as houses and painted in a myriad of colours.
"I said, what're we going to do?"
D'tera stomps her way up to the throne and asks again, her first comment falling on dazed ears. "The kingdom has lost its best defence, and now looks to you to keep it safe." D'tera takes a polite bow, her heavy heart lends to her fold, and her hand crosses her chest.
Maloin lets this realization hit him, and he slumps again to let out a hot breath of shame.
"I've had time to think, and I know what I have to do, but I know the people will not like it." Maloin's shameful eyes don't break away from a stream of light sneaking into the room at his right. "I've thought long about what has to be done, it's just that the action I take will also cause worry and distrust." The King's head buries in doubt.
D'tera turns to look out the window, paces quietly over to it, and as sombre as this monolith of a warrior could be, she gazes down at a few families waiting around the palace gates, "If you don't make a distrustful and worrying choice, there won't be people to feel any such way. You need to make tough calls… no matter the cost." Saying this, D'tera grips a wrapped mass she holds at her side.
King Maloin sighs again, deep and as long as to let out everything in his lungs.
"Gather the families and the remaining patrol guards, I'll make the announcement then."
D'tera leaves the castle with haste, still tightly gripping the package she carries. She heads towards a sorrowful greeting, nonetheless determined.
***
Countless eyes rain hatred onto the lone Commandant. D'tera walks through the dreary town and accepts their disdain - or rather, she lets it fall to her without care. For her next task is immensely more painful. The people of Regnus know that the Elite are weak cowards, that they've done nothing but make targets out of the Kingdom.
They know it in their hearts. Regnus is cursing the defeat of Diagis and the loss of his men - stories whisper throughout the alleys… and eventually, a word for the enemy began to float, a warning of ability and strength. "Cythril" now haunts the quick memories of Regnus.
As she walks towards the edge of town, D'tera ponders what to say, how she will break the news. Not all families have been given the report of the attack just yet, the official news hasn't broken, but the rumours spread like wildfire through the town easily enough anyway.
The deceased Captain Guard's family is looked at with sorrowful contempt. D'tera reaches the outskirt of town, Diagis and Matrelus' homestead. Parents to Vientus, their oldest, and Vicadum, both boys of
fighting age- D'tera quickly rids herself of that thought.
Her heart is so burdened-heavy that it keeps her in place, stood outside their door. Through glass she can see an orange glow, then, the causal wisping flame casts the shadow of a boy. It dances back and forth. D'tera can't help but wonder what moves it. Is it waiting expectantly for its father-shadow? She forces her chin into her chest and her eyes down at her still feet. Wishing she could move. Wishing she were faster.
***
D'tera holds her King firmly, now holding him at his sides, lifting him and sprinting. Desperate to get Maloin safe as fast as she can, then return to hopefully pull Diagis into a retreat.
Diagis' knuckles pop around his grip on his hilt. Smirking as he faces off against this dangerous oddity.
Sensing the creature's killing intent, Diagis confidently drags his sword down through the air, clashing his sword against its hidden teeth.
Diagis' swung to hit something, but even he had no clue what to expect. Trusting in the abnormal mass' thirst for his flesh, Diagis aims.
His sheer mastery of the sword allows him to utilize his senses, detecting the creature with a great amount of ease. In a blink- His eyes tell him it's nowhere to be found, but his skin warns him of the mass in front of him, his ears guide him to the distance of its breath and cry. Diagis is at no disadvantage in this one-on-one.
Away, D'tera has dragged King Maloin to the edge of the forest, ensuring his safety by throwing him towards the Garrison troops, unshaken in her handling of the King.
"Take His Highness to the deepest room the castle has, arrange for twenty men to stand outside and keep watch, I'll return shortly with Captain Diagis, and we'll make sense of this attack!"
D'tera has no time to think, only to make the harsh order to lock her King up for his safety and to return to a battlefield with an unknown enemy. Time is short. Dashing through the wicked forest brush, D'tera takes hold of her heavy double-edged buster sword and swings to her front, slashing down the trees in her way for many meters off.
Arriving at the field, she quickly views the scars of the battle. The ground where Diagis must've been knelt down at the weight of his foe against his sword, an indent of a huge mass being forced down just as Diagis was. D'tera gathers that he must've jumped up to slash at it. All these tell-tale signs, yet no Diagis or creature to be seen.
"DIAGIS!"
She calls out desperately, waiting impatiently for an answer. She hears nothing back, only the wind and trees. D'tera begins to haphazardly clear the area, unleashing a fury of attacks on the low bushes. She desperately swings wildly to reveal a possible clue or, to her fear, a body. In a mash of gust and dust, D'tera kicks up a rock, and it peters away over behind an untouched bush, waking a groggy Diagis.
"Gaah, who's throwing rocks?" A slurring Diagis asks. D'tera races over, laying her sword beside Diagis and quickly checks over his chest and head for any severe damage, noting the heavy flow of blood left on and around him.
"Can't a guy sleep? Just had kind of a big fight back there, if you didn't notice?"
He lets his head fall back to the ground. "Shut up, Diagis, I'm trying to see where he got you." D'tera scans over his torso to find where the blood is coming from, but as she reaches a little lower, Diagis grabs her hand and tells her to stop.
"Please...I-I know I'm dead, I-" Diagis inhales sharply and his eyes scatter around the sky, tears brim at his eyelids. "I knew… I only had to hold on long enough."
D'tera is angry and confused.
"Dead? What do you...-"
Diagis' strength gives out on him, and he's unable to stop her from feeling lower and noticing the extent of the damage. D'tera feels the wetness of the red all over, eyes widening at the sight of his state. Diagis is grasping at life.
***
In fighting the Cythril, Diagis made many significant attacks to take the beast down, the fight went as D'tera saw it in the scars.
He would jump meters high to bring the Cythril down to its knees, indenting the ground with his forceful swing. The fight took them away to a misty plain, a mistake in the Cythril's movement because this allowed Diagis to be able to visualize the being more than his senses could before.
Flung backward into a loose wall of fog, the mist drapes around the Cythril. Landing heavily, the beast chitters and seems to laugh. Stretching upright on assumed hind legs, it stands as tall as trees, while crawling, it feels about the height of a large bear, able to move faster that way seemingly.
Through a wild swing in the fogged air, the terror of clawed hands takes shape. The Cythril bounds in a moment, racing at Diagis with a raised left. Being easier to see now, Diagis leads the monster's swing into the ground, planting its fist firmly.
Diagis takes this opportunity to get onto the back of the Cythril and hit what must be a vital point at the nape of its neck. Raising his sword above him, he prepares to swiftly end the monster once and for all, but the creature suddenly and violently rips its way out of the ground, lifting Diagis into the air from its back.
He flies and falls into nearby water, standing fast as he lets the mists wash over him, taking the moment to reconvene his thoughts and actions. A quick meditation allows his battle sense to lead him towards being able to take this Cythril down. Hearing the splashing of the water a few meters away, Diagis can tell by the volume that it didn't leap in, it slipped in slowly. Moving underwater now, Diagis adjusts his footing and faces where the Cythril was. "If it's going to attack, it has to be dangerously close." Diagis prepares to finish the fight.
Diagis stops his movement completely, allowing him to feel the waving waters against his legs, detecting any immediate movement around him, somehow sensing multiple moving bodies. Suddenly, behind him, he can sense the Cythrils swimming strokes move against his stance, pushing intensely, faster and faster.
Diagis places his sword at his side and readies it for a slash, keeping forward and away from the Cythril, giving the enemy the false hope of an opening. Then, the Cythril leaps out of the water, its razor claw raised to the moon ready to rip Diagis in twain. Swinging quickly to meet his flesh, the invisible and muscular arm of the beast halts. Diagis grunts in a final effort, having already counter-moved.
Raining down on Diagis' demonized face, the visible viscera and innards of the Cythril fall sloppily through a giant slice in its chest.
Diagis has opened the Cythril wide, the pond darkens with the blood of the monster, and its body begins to sink. Diagis watches its still form inked out by the pond and blood, waiting to see if it's truly dead. Lower it sinks, as if into a pocket of the muck. The pond swallows the Cythril, and Diagis is left to ponder his victory. As he relieves his lungs of breath, the surface of the pond is tensed and suddenly burst through.
The Cythril rises from the depths and rushes Diagis, prompting him to react strictly by raising his sword in the direction of the coming attack. The Cythril is impaled on the sword of its own violent volition, a final throw into the fight against the human, giving every last bit of energy it has.
As it bleeds a small lake into the pond waters, it thrashes vehemently on the blade, attempting to remove the sword from its gut by sheer will; it fails and can only do what it can to attack the sword itself. It begins to wreak havoc on the blade and hand of Diagis, throwing fist after fist to make him let go.
Diagis endures the pain, knowing all too short the desperate creature will slow into death, but not soon enough to save Diagis' bones and flesh. Diagis' hands are pulp in between the furious fists of the Cythril, barely able to close completely around the blade.
The sword gives away, the hilt and hand are destroyed, and the blade shimmers into shards in the night, each piece reflects a sliver of the moon. Diagis' blade stands tall in the Cythril's dead chest.
Diagis is allowed a moment of peace, taking in the fight, the pain of his injuries, and the condition of his sword, disappointed by all. He walks over to the corpse, still hot from the blood, he watches the steaming crimson body of the Cythril lose its form, slowly, as if it's melting away in the waters. Before it can completely fall underneath, he reaches for his sword and tugs at it, liberating it from the Cythril's body, and a twitch warns Diagis.
From within the water, a force launches Diagis across the skirt of land, streaking the grass as red as the water itself,
he can feel nothing of his lower half. His legs are nowhere to be seen, the air stripped of his lungs and torso, the light in his eyes dim, he has no choice but to be wintry embraced by death.
***
Diagis lies there on the ground, growing colder underneath the hot wash of blood and warm misty air, sleep comes naturally.
After a short rest, he is nudged by a brushing bush, and a moment later is fully woken by a rock. Wincing at the pain and mere annoyance of waking from rest, Diagis calls out in a way he knows won't cause anyone close by to be fearful. He is always thinking of others.
D'tera finds him and notices his missing legs, quickly dragging him by his torn cape over into some light, pulling further and further away from the pond and mist. Diagis grabs above his head to his taut cape and tells D'tera to stop. "D'tera please, I fear my time is running short, and I won't spend my last moments being dragged across the ground." Diagis tries to hold onto the cape tightly.
D'tera nearly doesn't listen to his plea, then Diagis stabs his sword into the ground to stop her. "Listen… please"
He begs.
"Diagis, I won't hear it, I'm taking you home to your kids and Wife. They'll be waiting for your return." She assures the tired Diagis.
"They will be waiting, D'tera... and it leaves my heart in shambles to know I can't see them again." Diagis laments his coming death.
"DON'T!"
She can only muster this defiance.
"D'tera, you have to take this!"
Diagis thrusts what's left of his sword towards her, holding it up with all the power left in his body, his broken hands clasp a broken blade.
D'tera whimpers a sigh, relieving her grip on him and laying him down. Holding his shaking, cold hands, she makes her promise to him. "Your family will get this. I'll do everything in my power to make them understand your sacrifice. Your family will know that you died a Hero's passing."
"Thank you… your words might suffice for my Matrelus, but those… ngh… those damn brats have my stubbornness." Diagis chuckles softly, and D'tera grits her teeth in a pulled smile for him.
"And for when it comes to them… tell them this…"
***
D'tera now stands cold outside the door of her lost friend, holding her promised delivery in Diagis' cape, not knowing how to bring such tragedy to the front door of an unsuspecting family. Her hands are as heavy as her heart, she lets her balled fist fall to the wooden door, and can only wince as she listens to the pattering footsteps of an expectant son.
Vicadum wildly swings the door open, and as swiftly as the happiness of having his returning father home came, so leaves the light in his eyes as his head falls down to view a bloody and tattered cape.