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War Of Souls



Prologue

The planet Karlia sat on still waters of black, vacant space, weeping with the anguish of lost time, lost hope, lost innocence. Alone in a galaxy unlike any other, she sat with her single moon and her lonely sun. There seemed to be only one fate for the people: to live in a world of never-ending war. This feud fought for generations desecrated the land and left the once beautiful planet scarred beyond nightmares. Life was a nightmare. It seemed there was nothing left but fighting.

Karlia, crippled by endless battles, lay polluted by the wreckage of ships used for transporting warriors and weapons. Her dark waters had gently delivered the lifeless corpses of men lost in the depths of the three oceans of her marred body, only to have them ravaged by scavenging animals. Though the bitter hands of time had abandoned the war on one small continent, the ragged terrain was scarred by this wretched quarrel.
Three races existed on Karlia: the naighen, a people with the outward appearance of humans but with abilities beyond; the Ruagans, a dragon-like people possessing a lethal venom; and the elves, a small community of people with few external differences from the naighen but a way of life all their own. At one time, all had been ruled by the sensible naighen nobility and lived under treaties of peace under one law.
The war had transpired for decades. Generations had been born into war and died fighting for their cause: control over all lands, all people. After years under the rule of one king, all was lost when the last ruler died and the truth about his disreputable past was revealed.
When Yowai’s reign as king commenced and was wed to his beautiful queen, he travelled across the ocean, seeking to recreate the treaties that kept their lands united under one rule. When at the castle to the north of the Ruagan continent, Yowai found himself at the mercy of its exquisite leader. The woman seduced him, taking him to her bed, from which resulted the illegitimate offspring that was his first-born son, Yoshi. Ashamed of his actions, the king returned to his home, and in an attempt to hide his sin and create a legitimate heir to the throne, his second son, Garad, was born.
Garad was raised without the knowledge of his older half-brother, but Yoshi learned the truth when he was a young boy. When Yowai’s spirit left for the afterlife, Garad assumed that he was to inherit his father’s throne, but it was not to be. Yoshi, after hearing of his father’s death, was on his way to the mainland to claim his rightful place as ruler of the planet.
As Yoshi arrived, word of his presence reached the new king’s ears, and he granted an audience with the bold man claiming to be the rightful heir to the throne. Garad was astonished when his eyes fell upon the half-breed, appearing to be of the race of the lizard-like people but having the same structure as he. Yoshi lacked the tail and wings that were characteristic of his race; there was no doubt that he held the blood of both races.
Yoshi confronted Garad and told him that he had no right to be on the throne. He recounted the tale of their father’s affair with the Ruagan leader, and he demanded that Garad step down from the throne and allow him to rule. Garad was enraged not only by the news of his father’s sin, but also by this hybrid man that stood before him, making demands he had no right to make. The king challenged his half-brother to a duel.
The two fought bravely but in vain, for neither warrior survived the battle. Their planet was abandoned, a land confused and without leadership.
For years, brave men tried to claim the throne, but none won their prize. Battles spawned by the pent up hatred between the races sprung to life at borders, spilling the blood of both races over senseless feuding. In the beginning, the elves remained neutral, keeping to themselves on their southern continent, but even they were eventually swept away in the torrent of battle.
Dreams darkened and souls were burdened with the hatred of their forefathers. Eventually the focus was lost and few remembered the king and the motive behind the turmoil. Blood lust raged in the hearts of all, and the planet broke out into a feud over which race was superior and deserved to be in control. The once peaceful world was now caught in the maelstrom of war.

Chapter 1
Cole rushed out through the front door of his house, not bothering to take the time to close the door behind him. He raced down the rut in the yard worn down to a path from countless footsteps. When he got to its end, he immediately turned to the right past the line of hedges bordering the yard, following his younger brother. “Pierce, get back here! You’ll get hurt!” he yelled as he ran. “It’s not worth it! Just let it go!”
Pierce stopped in his tracks and turned back, a picture of rage and anguish on his young face. “You heard what they said! Are you telling me that you want to let them get away with that?” he replied through clenched teeth and tear-filled eyes. “How can you live with yourself!”
Cole caught up with his brother and bent, putting his hands to his knees to rest for a moment, letting his panic fade away as he caught his breath. “I heard everything those stupid kids said. I heard them say that our father was a coward and a traitor, but I don’t believe a word of it. I know what people have been saying, but what good will come of this if something happens to you? You must wait until you aren’t full of this rage. You have to! Don’t let yourself get swept away by all of this fighting! It isn’t worth your life, too.”
Pierce, his face crimson with emotion, let his sorrow flow as he fell to his knees and wept. He clenched his fists against the thirsty soil, clutching the parched grass between his fingers. “Why? Why didn’t he fight back?” Pierce sobbed, turning his face up to look at his brother.
Cole knelt next to him. “I don’t know everything that happened. All I know is that he wanted a better world for us. You know as well as I that he was no traitor. How could a man hold such beliefs of peace and still attempt to go off on a massacre as they say he was planning? You know father would never do such a thing.
“Don’t listen to their gossip. He was a bold man who stood his ground. He did what he felt was right, and he wouldn’t let anyone change him. If he were still alive, he wouldn’t want us to lose control over something as petty as a few insults. I won’t let them get to me, and I don’t expect you to let them get under your skin,” Cole said, gripping Pierce’s shoulder with a firm but gentle touch. “You’ve got to stay strong, kid.”
With a sigh of resignation, Pierce nodded.
Cole helped his brother up, and they walked back to their house. Their once happy home was now filled with the stale echoes of barren silence. Their father had been killed only a few days before, and their mother had died when both boys were young. The emptiness of the large house was suffocating.
As they walked inside, Cole looked around the cluttered living room. The furniture was draped in a disorderly array of shirts and other items of clothing, most of it dirty. He considered for a moment that he should do something to clean it up, but with a sigh, thought that it didn’t make a difference now. There was no reason to tidy up when no one was going to see it. It was just him now, him and his brother.
Cole was nineteen, and though he was young, he was very much a capable man, able to support himself and his brother as was needed. He had had to do so for a long time, though his father had still been alive then.
He had been trained well by his father in the skills of battle. He wielded his sword gracefully, but he was not yet enlisted in the army. His father had kept him away, kept both of his sons away from the war for as long as he could. Cole’s training had started at a young age, and with his mastery of the techniques of fighting came a respect for life. He hated killing, hated the very thought of someone stealing the life of another person, but that was how life was. They were living in dark times, a time of near constant war. There was little relief from the ever-present battling. He wished that it could just end, but he knew that his day was coming. He would soon have to join with the rest of the army stationed there on South Island. He was too close to the fighting to hide in the shadows that his father had created to protect them.
He looked over at his brother, sitting there on a bar stool at the counter, staring down at a picture of their family, their family as it once had been: complete. Pierce was only sixteen. He was too young to be forced to join the army. At least there was that, but Cole wasn’t sure that his brother would wait very long after his next birthday before he, too, would join in the slaughter. The boy was passionate, bold, willing to risk his life for a cause if he deemed it worthy. He had no idea how precious his life was. Youth was often like that. Cole understood, though, how fragile life really was in this day and age. Too many were dying. Far too many.
Pierce, like his mother, had a fire in his green eyes quenched only with the fulfilment of whatever task lay before him. Those eyes were now locked on the photograph held in his trembling hands, his tears splashing against the clear glass protecting the cherished memory.
Their family had been very close, but now the only family they had was each other. They had been orphaned, left in that terrible world to fend for themselves. Cole would have to get a job of some sort in order to provide for the two of them until he too,
was forced to give his life to the cause of his people. A people enveloped in a war they had no reason to be fighting. It was all one senseless torrent of cold death.
His stomach growled insistently, drawing him out of his brooding. With a heavy sigh, Cole ran his fingers through his blonde hair. He needed to relax. He decided to grab a snack and unwind by playing the piano. It was the only thing he could use to truly express himself, his own personal doorway to his spirit. He could sit down and make the most beautiful music. In a way, that piano was a link to his mother. She had always loved listening to him play, and at the end of her life, she had lain in bed, listening to his beautiful music while death’s cold hands slowly squeezed her heart until it could pump no more.
Cole remembered that day so vividly. He had only been ten when she died. He sighed to himself as he looked at the picture of her that he kept on the piano, thinking of how beautiful she was, how vibrant her eyes were. He missed his mother so much; he and Pierce both did.
Cole closed his eyes, placed his hands on the ivory keys, and began to play the last song he had played for his mother. He played what was burdening his soul. The notes were etched on his heart, and he transposed his pain and emotions into a powerful melody that no other could counterfeit. He didn’t remember most of his songs, but this tune, beauty enveloped in sorrow, was burned into his memory.
The music had been in his mind all day. It felt as if the burden of the memory lifted a bit as the notes flowed out from his heart.
When Cole finished playing the song and opened his eyes, letting his breath out in a steady stream, he noticed his brother standing in the doorway, leaning against its frame. He glanced over at Pierce and then turned his eyes back to the picture of their mother.
“Do you remember,” Cole asked, looking down at the keys, “the last time I played that?”
“You act like I’ve forgotten her,” Pierce said softly. “She was my mother, too.”
“I know that,” Cole murmured irritably.
A mournful stillness filled the room. The two of them said nothing as they contemplated the silence. Their breath seemed to be the only sound.
Cole suddenly had a thought. “Dad got something for you. He said that when I thought you were ready, old enough to handle it, I could give it to you.” He rose from the piano bench and walked over to the closet of their father’s empty office. Empty like the rest of the house.
“Don’t you dare abuse this,” Cole warned, turning back to his brother. “It can really change how you live. Take my word for it.” He didn’t really want to give Pierce the item, but it was time. He knew what this would mean, and he dreaded the inevitable event. His brother was growing up too quickly.
Pierce nodded absently, not knowing exactly what he was agreeing not to abuse. “What is it?”
With a sigh of resignation, Cole opened the closet door and stepped in. He reached down and picked up something wrapped in a blanket and bound by a thin rope. Untying the rope as he walked over to Pierce, he dropped the covering on the floor. Inside the blanket, wrapped in brown paper, was the gift. Cole handed the package to Pierce and watched as his brother unwrapped it. When the paper fell away, he held the gift out in his open palms.
“It’s a sword,” Pierce said, childish excitement ringing in his voice. He took the leather-bound hilt in his hand, and as he gently pulled it out of its scabbard, the light hit the lustrous metal and the bright glare glistened a reflection in Pierce’s dark green eyes. He was honoured to receive it. This sword meant that he was ready to take on his challenges like a man. A man trained to use the deadly weapon but never possessing one of his own. Not any more. Now he had his very own sword.
Cole stepped back over to the piano and watched his brother fasten the sword to his back with the leather strap attached to the scabbard. He adjusted it to fit him comfortably before reaching behind his head and gripping the hilt. He slid the blade from its sheath and positioned it in front of himself as if he were facing some unseen foe, the metallic ring from the new weapon sending chills up his spine. He swung the sword around as he aimed at his invisible enemy. When he felt fulfilled that he had won his imaginary battle, he relaxed and took the blade in his hand. He marvelled at how beautiful it was, how magnificent.
“Ouch!!” Pierce exclaimed, dropping his sword onto the carpeted floor.
“What did you do?” Cole asked, taking a step forward.
“I cut my thumb,” Pierce murmured, sticking the injured finger into his mouth.
“That was real good,” Cole chuckled sarcastically. “You know, they do make those things sharp.”
“Shut up!” he growled, embarrassed. He picked up his weapon from the floor and slid it back in its sheath as he walked out of the room to put his prize away in his bedroom.
It was getting late, and there seemed to be nothing to do, so Cole decided to watch television. He plopped down on the couch and started flipping through the channels. For some reason, he felt compelled to stop on the news. After a few minutes Cole called out for his brother to come and watch with him.
Pierce came into the room and sat next to his brother. “What?” he asked.
“Listen to this,” Cole said, turning up the volume.
“General Tamura, you have the floor,” the newscaster said.
“Good evening, everyone.” He paused as he glanced down at his feet, obviously reluctant to announce what he had come to say. “I regret to inform you that our troops at the South Island base have been diminished. A large percentage of our men were wounded or killed in recent battles. We need volunteers to join with our troops. Because of the urgency, we are lowering the draft age to sixteen. Every man sixteen or older who is able is needed to report to the capital city’s courthouse tomorrow morning at eight. You will be shipped to the base where you will receive the necessary training.
“Every man is needed. It’s your duty to fight for our race. We don’t know when they will attack again, but we must be prepared. They are always out there, and we must have the forces to defend ourselves. We mustn’t just lie down and let the enemy charge over us. The whole world is counting on you men out there to show up and count yourselves among the other brave men already giving their lives for this cause. Our people are counting on you.
“Thank you.”
Cole and Pierce sat silently in shock. The draft age had never been lowered to such a young age before.
Their father had worked as a recruiter in the capital when the draft age was still eighteen. The year Cole turned sixteen, his father was transferred out to the field. Since he was a widower and his children were too young to live on their own, he was allowed to commute the hour’s drive to the base. He started by spending half a week, in two-day intervals, living on the base and then returning home to live two days with his sons. That had been his routine for a while until it became necessary for him to spend more days at a time on the base.
Their father had kept them safe from being a part of the fighting, but he couldn’t maintain it forever. He didn’t tell people how old his sons were, so no one questioned when they would join him at the base.
He had been an officer of low rank when he retired. That had been less than a month ago.
Now that he was dead, everything had changed. Now there was nothing protecting either of them from the cold reality of war. Their father’s shadow was gone.
Cole’s voice was quiet with astonishment. “I can’t believe it.”
“I guess I can cancel my plans for tomorrow,” Pierce joked. The jest received only a harsh glare from Cole. “Sorry. I guess this is kind of a bad time for joking.”
“Yeah, I’d say so.” He glanced back to the television and then turned to Pierce. “War is serious. People die. You don’t make jokes about people dying. This is more significant than you realize it to be.”
“I know.” Pierce’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry.”
Cole squeezed the bridge of his nose between two fingers and a thumb before dropping his hand heavily back into his lap. “I guess we’d better get some sleep, then. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow. Tomorrow and every day for the rest of our lives, however long that is.”
Pierce yawned. “I was tired anyways. It seems like every day just gets longer and longer.”
Cole stood and straightened his pant legs. “G’night, kid.”
“G’night,” Pierce sighed as he got up and staggered down the hall to his room. He was exhausted. He picked up his pack off of the floor in the corner of his room and started filling it with his clothes and things he knew he would need. When he was through, he set it on the floor next to his new sword.
Pierce could barely keep his eyes open. He didn’t even change his clothes; he just plopped down on his bed and fell asleep, almost on impact.
As the night drew to a close and morning started the new day, Karlia slowly came to life. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and the wind was gently rustling the leaves on the dew-covered trees. Cole opened his eyes and looked over at the clock.
“Oh, crap!” he yelled. “It’s almost eight!” He jumped out of bed and ran to Pierce’s room. “Get up, Pierce. We’re late!” he said, shaking his brother awake.
“What time is it?” Pierce yawned.
“We’ve got five minutes to get there!”
Pierce jumped out of his bed. His face went white and his eyes doubled in size. “Five minutes?!”
Cole had already run back to his room and had started getting dressed. In a matter of seconds he was back with his sword and pack and dragging Pierce out the door.
They arrived at the courthouse five minutes late, rushing up the steps and opening the door. A room full of people turned, stopped in their conversations, and stared at the two.
Cole and Pierce stopped dead in their tracks, their faces glowing red. They smiled sheepishly at the crowd of strangers.
Cole waved like a complete fool and said, “Sorry we’re late.”
A man in his late twenties with spiky white hair walked over to them. “Hurry up and come over here,” he said impatiently, grabbing Cole’s still waving arm and dragging him over to a table. Pierce followed. “Both of you fill out these forms and bring them to me when you’re done. My name is Noah Tamura. I’m the superior officer here. Hurry up; you’re already behind!”
Noah walked back over to his squad and hopped up onto a platform before the group of mostly young men with a few older gentlemen gathered here and there. Cole and Pierce leaned over the table and began to fill out the forms. They could hear Noah addressing them all.
“Some of you men are here for the first time. Well, today is going to change your lives forever. You will never be the same after experiencing war. I thank you for being brave enough to volunteer to fight alongside those soldiers already in the field, joining them in this struggle.
“We will be leaving by bus to go to the base, your new home. Once we arrive, you will be taken to the clinic where we will take a reading of your power level. It’s a standard procedure and it won’t take long, but it will still take a while with all of you men here.
“You will be assigned a squadron with a captain in charge of your group. The barracks have thirty beds in each room, so you’ll have plenty of company. There is a curfew to follow, but your captains’ll tell you all that stuff tonight at your meetings. First, though, later on this afternoon there will be an assembly with everyone together. There are some men being shipped down from the continent who should be there by then. We’ll be one big happy family.” He offered a smile, empty of humour.
“The army will provide you with anything you may need. You will need your own clothes and such, but nothing else is required. We will be on our way once our two latecomers finish filling out their paperwork. You can just relax for the time being.”
Noah jumped down off of the platform and walked over to the two of them. “Are you almost done?”
“Yes, sir. Here you go,” Pierce said, handing the paper to Noah.
Noah looked over the form, reading the information to himself. “Pierce Minea. Good to have you with us.” He smiled.
Cole straightened and gave his paper to the general. Noah read over his form as well, looking up when he was finished. “Cole Minea. So you’re brothers then?” They nodded. “I think I know your father. Is his name Owen?”
“Yes.” Cole’s green eyes shifted down toward his feet.
“Where is he? Why isn’t he here?” Noah asked as he pushed up his silver-framed glasses.
“Well…he was killed.”
Noah’s ears went red with embarrassment, the colour showing even more vividly against his white hair. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“It’s all right. It only happened four days ago.”
“What happened? Was he in battle?”
Cole looked into Noah’s cool grey eyes, surprised that a man of his rank wouldn’t know about the rumours surrounding his father’s death. “No. He was executed. Father was tired of fighting, retired from the army. He was accused of planning an attack on the elf village. They killed him, but two days later the elves were massacred anyway.”
Noah stared at the young man before him. “Your father? He would never do such a thing. He was a moral man,” he stated in disbelief. “What proof did they have against him?”
“None. They came to our home without warning while Pierce and I were away. There was no evidence for them to find. When I returned, I found his body, decapitated, on our front lawn. No one admits to have witnessed anything.”
“That’s murder,” the officer whispered. “Who ordered his death?”
“We don’t know.” Cole took a deep breath. “If you’re through interrogating me…”
“Cole, I knew your father. I knew him well. He was a good man. I don’t believe that he would do that.”
“Well, that doesn’t help him now.” Cole walked away, pulling his brother with him.
Noah added their forms to the file holding the others and turned to the assembled men. “Let’s get going.”
Everyone walked outside and loaded onto buses. There were over three hundred men, and with an hour’s drive ahead of them to get to the base, Cole decided to meet some of the other soldiers.
He turned to a certain character across the aisle that arrested his attention. This boy was cheerful looking in opposition to the sullen faces of the other men there. His bright blue eyes seemed to laugh at the world. He looked carefree and very content.
“Hi, I’m Cole,” he greeted, extending his hand.
The boy smiled and took Cole’s hand. “Hey. I’m Otter. At least that’s what everybody calls me. My real name is Alex. What’s up?”
“Well, nothing really. Just going off to war. You know, everyday sort of stuff.”
“You know it,” Otter chuckled. “Is he your brother?” he asked, gesturing at Pierce.
“Yeah. He’s barely old enough for the draft.”
“Really? I’m seventeen; I’ve got no excuse. Except that I’m not the fighting type. I’m more of a slacker, you know. I just like to goof off.”
“It’s not like I’m a baby. I don’t mind fighting,” Pierce said in his defence. “But I’m not in a hurry to die.”
“Well, if it weren’t for the need of volunteers, I wouldn’t be here,” Cole put in. “I just want this all to be over with. Once the war is over, we can all live in peace.”
Another voice from behind them spoke up. “War can never be over. There’s always some kind of conflict. We will never be able to achieve total peace. Anyone who thinks that is a fool only kidding himself,” the stranger proclaimed coarsely.
The three of them turned about in their seats to see the source of this soft but fierce voice.
The young man looked odd to them. His nose had an upward slant to it and his ears were pointed; he was obviously an elf. He had short, shaggy, auburn hair and piercing blue eyes. His eyelashes seemed unusually long for a guy, but they dismissed his soft appearance, knowing that elves were never hard or gruff looking. He wore a grey sweatshirt with a hood and zipper even though it was still early September and the weather had not cooled off much. His face bore no scars, but his brow was furrowed, giving him a vexed expression. Sincerity was apparent in the boy’s voice and eyes. This soldier was definitely unique.
“What’s your name?” Cole inquired with a charming smile.
“What do you care?” came the stranger’s response in a growl. “I was just wondering. Calm down. I’m not out to get you or anything.”
With a surrendering mumble, he finally conceded. “My name’s Kai.”
“Okay. Nice to meet you, Kai. I’m Cole—”
“Yeah, I know who you are,” he interrupted. “Did you forget I was listening to your conversation?”
Otter looked confused, the expression seeming to be right at home on his round face. “Why are you so snippy, Kai? Has someone done something to offend you?” He scratched his head of light brown hair.
“I’m just trying not to get involved. Why make friends when you go to war?” Kai slumped down in his seat and propped his knee up on the back of the seat in front of him.
“Would you rather have nothing but enemies?” Pierce asked.
“Why not? I can take care of myself.”
“That’s a hard way to live,” Cole said. “Don’t you find that it’s easier to have friends?”
“All of my friends were killed. All of my family was destroyed. I don’t want to suffer through that again,” Kai shot back in a harsh, cold tone.
Cole let out a sigh of frustration. “Look, Kai, I know how it feels to lose people close to me. All of my family is dead except for my brother, here, but that is not going to stop me from loving people. If I didn’t love anyone, there’d be no point in living.”
“It’s not like I hate everything. I just don’t want to get involved,” Kai said defensively.
“Okay,” Cole sighed, holding up his hands in surrender. “You’re entitled to your own miserable opinion. We’ll leave you alone if you want, but if you’re not looking for conversation, then I’d suggest you not start any.” With that statement, Cole turned back around in his seat and the other two followed suit. They sat silently for a moment.
Once he had had enough of the silence, Otter decided to have some fun and said, “So, you’ve got a sword, huh?” He was talking in a volume that he knew Kai would be able to hear clearly, an attempt to get a response from him. With a tilt of his head and a wink, he gestured to Cole what he was about.
With a small smile of understanding, Cole gave a slight nod. He figured that it would be funny, and it would at least be better than sitting in silence. “Yep. A big sword. It’s very effective. It cuts really well.”
“I bet it’s heavy.”
“Yep.”
“Where’d you get it?”
“My dad gave it to me when I was about twelve.”
Kai couldn’t resist making a comment. “Just what this world needs: a bunch of stupid twelve-year-olds running around with swords,” he muttered.
Cole smiled and turned around in his seat, pleased to get a reaction so quickly. “I’m sorry, did you say something? I didn’t think you were talking to anyone so as not to make friends.”
Kai glared at him. “Did you take that as friendly?”
Cole didn’t say anything; he just turned around. Kai snickered almost involuntarily, nearly a giggle. Cole heard the quiet laugh and thought to himself that Kai wasn’t as tough as he was trying to appear.

Chapter 2
The base almost seemed like a city itself. Its collection of buildings was laid out in a circular pattern, leaving an open square in the centre. As they drove up, they passed the multiple story barracks and the dorms for the women who worked in the clinic, cafeteria, and housing office. The officers’ quarters were set up near the apartment buildings for married couples and families. There were office buildings and an auditorium, and behind the barracks, a small lake had been dug for a bit of recreation.
Recreation was the least of their concerns, though. This was a place to house warriors. Other bases on the northern continent or even to the north on South Island held their focus in training or the development of technology. This base was strictly for warfare.
When they made it to the clinic on the south side of the base, they unloaded the buses. Each man was given a number and told to get in a line outside of the building’s walls. As their number was called, the men went, four at a time, into a room where a nurse measured their power level. Otter, Pierce, Cole, and Kai all got consecutive numbers. They stood in line, waiting for their turn, and after nearly an hour, they were called.
Cole walked behind the nurse in her mid-thirties as she led them down a hallway and into a room where she closed the door behind them. Her brown hair, tied into a loose knot at the back of her head, was kissed with a hint of grey at the temples. Slight wrinkles deepened with her smile as she greeted them. “Hi. My name is Peridot Ciancy. If you need a good nurse, come find me. I’m in charge around here.” She winked. “And what are your names?”
“Alex Pickett,” Otter said, leaning his weight against a cart. The cart unexpectedly moved, and Otter stumbled to catch himself before he toppled over. He flashed an apologetic smile at Peridot who seemed un-amused.
“Pierce Minea,” Pierce said when she looked his way expectantly.
“Cole Minea.”
“Brothers?” the nurse asked as she flipped through a group of files for their names.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Peridot huffed a laugh. “You don’t have to call me ‘ma’am.’ I’m not as old as I look.” She glanced up at the elf standing back behind the others. “And your name?”
“Kai Tate,” he answered quietly.
When Peridot had the papers she needed from their files, she clamped them down on a clipboard and said, “All right, Alex, you first. Try not to break anything.” He shuffled over toward her. “Come stand over here on this mat,” Peridot instructed, pointing to a square, yellow mat on the floor with the pen in her right hand.
“So now what?” Otter asked, shoving his hands into his back pockets.
“Now I need you to concentrate on your energy and project it so I can gauge how high it is. Do you know how to do that?”
Otter nodded and pulled his hands from his pockets. His face took on a look of serious concentration. It seemed a mighty effort for him to call forth his power.
Peridot watched the numbers on the gauge grow until they seemed to stabilize and remain in the vicinity of one range. “Three thousand,” she read aloud. She recorded the number on his paper and looked up. “Thank you. You may step down.” She flipped his page over to the next. “Your turn, Pierce.”
Pierce stepped up onto the mat after Otter moved away and repeated the procedure, though with considerably less strain than Otter. Peridot recorded his power level at five thousand.
Pierce walked back to Otter when he was done, gloating that his level had been higher. The two teased each other for a moment until Peridot, obviously losing patience during such a monotonous job, told them that they could go on back outside. The two did as she said, leaving Cole and Kai to finish the examination.
“All right, Cole, your turn.”
Cole took his place on the yellow mat, apologizing for his brother’s behaviour.
“It’s all right. I don’t really expect much out of kids your age. They’re just typical boys like the rest of this bunch.” She scratched her eyebrow as she glanced down at his paper. “Go ahead.”
Cole smiled slyly and summoned up such power that an orange aura came up around him like fire. Kai stared in amazement, his jaw dropping as his blue eyes widened.
“Fifteen thousand! Wow, that’s the highest power I’ve seen all day,” Peridot said, her surprise bringing a pleased smile to her face.
“Only fifteen?” Cole asked, a bit disappointed. “I can do better than that.” He gathered more power from within him, causing the orange aura to turn white like the hottest of stars.
“Are you quite finished?” the nurse asked, a touch of irritation in her voice. She shifted her weight to her other leg and rested her right hand on her hip.
Cole chuckled his amusement at the woman. “Now tell me how high it is.”
Kai snapped out of his stare and averted his eyes to his shoes, which at that moment, seemed to be very interesting.
“Thirty two thousand. That’s amazing! You more than doubled your power! I haven’t seen anything like this in a long time.”
Cole relaxed and the bright fire vanished. “That sounds more like it,” he said with a smile. “Your turn, Kai.” He stepped off of the yellow mat and moved over to where the elf was standing.
Kai’s face went red. “Why don’t you go ahead and go outside? Go find your brother,” he suggested.
“Okay, buddy. I guess I will,” Cole said, punching Kai lightly on the arm.
The elf let out a sarcastic laugh. “You’re a riot.”
After Cole went outside, Kai walked over to the mat. “I’ve got to tell you something before we do this,” he said to Peridot.
“Okay, go ahead.”
“I’m not what I seem to be.”
“What do you mean?” the nurse asked, a suspicious look of confusion on her face.
“Well…I’m kind of…not a guy.”
“You’re a girl?!” Peridot exclaimed.
Kai quickly shushed her, her hands waving nervously as she looked around, checking to see if someone else had heard her secret and was coming in to haul her away and turn her in. Satisfied that no one was coming, she hurriedly explained.
“I’m disguised as a guy so that I can fight. They don’t allow women in combat, but I wanted to fight those filthy creatures. They destroyed everything I ever had. You can’t understand what it’s like. Please don’t turn me in,” she pleaded, trying her hardest to keep a tight grip on her emotions as they threatened to burst forward in a flood of tears.
Peridot thought for a moment, stepping closer to the young woman before her. She looked into the elf’s eyes, seeing there the conviction to do whatever it would take to do this, even sacrifice herself, her precious life, in the chaos of battle. “Okay,” she finally said. “But you’ve got to make me a promise.” Kai nodded eagerly. “Promise me that you’ll be careful. It’s dangerous out there, and you could really get messed up. I don’t want to see you hurt. After what’s happened in the last few days, I’m not sure why they’d even let an elf volunteer. I don’t know how you managed to survive through it, but I’m glad you did.”
“And a lot of good it did me. What good is one elf? I am the last,” she whispered, losing control of her tears.
Peridot reached up a motherly hand and wiped Kai’s cheeks dry. “Don’t let them see you like this, hun. If you’re going to pretend to be a man, you’ll have to shut off the waterworks.” She cupped Kai’s chin in her hand, bringing the woman’s blue eyes to hers. “I know it hurts, but don’t let it out like this. You use this when you get out there and have to face them. They’re the ones who did this to you and your family. Take it out on them.”
Kai clenched her jaw as it lay cradled in Peridot’s palm. She nodded slightly and forced herself to stop her tears. “You’re right.”
Peridot’s hand dropped down to her side, and she smiled warmly. “Of course I am. I’ve lived for long enough and seen enough of this war to know a thing or two. You just remember what I told you.”
“I will,” Kai said as she wiped her sleeves at her eyes and cheeks, drying her tears. “Thank you for not turning me over. You have no idea how that helps me.”
“Well, sometimes we all need a little help. There’s nothing wrong with asking for some.” She took a few steps back and tried to think of something to lighten the mood. “So, that Cole fellow is pretty handsome. Don’t you think? If I weren’t a married woman…”
Kai laughed quietly. “Yes he is.”
“And what do you think of him? You two seem to be friends.”
“Not really. We only just met. Besides, he thinks I’m a guy.” She shrugged self-consciously. “I’ve been kind of mean to him, but it’s only to protect myself. I can’t let anyone find out who or what I really am. I can’t allow myself to get too friendly with anyone. But if I could, I know that he and I would be friends. He seems to be a good person, from what I’ve seen so far.”
“Well, I don’t know him, but I knew his father. He was an officer before…well, before he retired. The controversy in these recent weeks has been hard on their family. Cole could probably use a good friend right now, if you change your mind.” She smiled warmly at Kai. “Enough chit-chat. I’ve got work to do, and several more soldiers to see. Let’s get this over with so you can go get something to eat before the afternoon slips past us.” She went to the machine that gauged their energy and told Kai to power up.
In one blast of controlled light, Kai let her energy flow, filling the room with the warmth of her power. She held it for a long moment before relaxing and looking up to Peridot.
“Five thousand,” the nurse read aloud. “That’s pretty good for a girl. Actually, that’s better than most of the men I’ve seen today. I tell you what: they let anyone fight these days.”
“Anyone but women. Even with the training I’ve had, I’m still not strong enough for this war,” she grumbled, frustration taking her voice.
“You’ll be all right. From what I see, I think you’ll do just fine.”
“Thanks.” Kai stepped down off of the yellow mat beneath her feet. “I guess I’ll get going.” She gave Peridot a quick hug before walking out of the clinic. As she walked out into the bright afternoon, her eyes caught a glimpse of Cole standing with Otter and Pierce. She decided to walk over and talk to them. Even if she couldn’t get too close to anyone, at least she didn’t have to be alone with no one to talk to. She hated being alone.
As she walked up, she caught the end of a joke Otter was telling. Pierce laughed harder than his brother. Cole was the first to notice her come up behind them.
“So, Cole,” Otter said, “What was your power level?”
Cole shrugged, trying to make his answer seem more casual. “Thirty two thousand.”
Otter was staggered by the number; even Pierce seemed surprised. Had Kai not witnessed it, she would have had a difficult time believing it herself.
“Are you serious?” Otter asked. When Cole nodded confirmation, Otter huffed, “I hope I never have to fight you.”
Cole laughed, seeming uncomfortable with such attention.
“He was just showing off in there,” Kai said, trying to make a joke.
Otter chuckled. “Oh? And what was your level?”
Kai’s back straightened. “Five thousand.”
Otter seemed to wilt a little. “Man, everyone’s gonna have a higher level than me! I could probably only beat up some girl.”
Cole looked over to Kai, a smile on his face. He couldn’t help himself, really. There was something about Kai that just made him want to smile.
“What are you grinning about?” Kai snarled, remembering to put her guard back up.
Cole cleared his throat, the smile fading to embarrassment. “Oh, nothing.”
The four of them chatted for a while and came to the conclusion that they would eat something while they had some time. They had to be back soon for the assembly. The group went to the cafeteria and sat at a round table to eat their lunch.
Cole picked at the remnants of his meal with his fork. “So when do you guys think we’ll actually have to go out there for battle?”
Kai shrugged. “Who knows? It could be tomorrow, it could be in a week. We probably won’t know until it happens.”
“I can’t stand this whole thing. I wish that someone would just settle it all without anyone having to die for it.”
Otter looked up from his plate and, with a mouth full of food, said, “What do you want, some kind of almighty being to be the savoir of the whole planet?” He swallowed and added, “Good luck finding that kind of power.”
There was a lull in the conversation until Kai spoke up. “Actually, I’ve heard stories about someone like that.” They all stopped eating, looking intently at her, waiting for her to continue. “It’s like a legend, I guess. It basically says that there is this place where a single guardian watches the whole world and everyone in it. This guardian is said to have magic powers or something like that. They can see everything from that one place and control things without having to leave. Like they can cast a spell and whatever they want happens. They can make people hallucinate and have visions and stuff.” She looked into their eyes in turn. “I don’t know. It’s just something I heard a long time ago.” She looked down self-consciously, partially wishing that she had kept her mouth shut.
No one said anything as they sat, soaking in what had been said.
An announcement over the loudspeaker in the cafeteria broke their silent pondering saying, “All soldiers report to the auditorium for General Tamura’s briefing.” At that, they all made their way over to the auditorium, filling nearly every seat.
Noah stood up on the stage, waiting for the seats to fill. He looked out at the men before him, sighing inwardly that he had to ask them to fight when he himself believed the war to be senseless. He forced his face to take on a serious expression, as serious as if the enemy were standing before him.
He stood before a blank white screen as he called out for their attention. “All right, let’s get started. You’ve got a lot to learn in not a lot of time.” The room fell silent, and all attention was turned to Noah. “All of you here today are no longer ordinary citizens. You are men fighting for our race against a people that would conquer the whole world and kill or enslave you and your families. They would smother our kind with their ways and their rule. This is what we are fighting against.
“You must learn how the enemy works. I know that many of you already know what it is I have to say, but hearing it said is important to understanding the threat. We must join together as one people without holding grudges, without judging each other. We are one people with one cause, one mission. Almost all of you are naighen, but even for those who are not, we must become one. Without it, we will fail.
“Your enemy is the Ruagans, not each other. Keep that in mind always. If there is bickering among us or rivalry, there is no sense in fighting our enemy from overseas; we will destroy ourselves. We won’t need their help. Learn this now, for out on the battlefield, nothing else will save you.”
Noah paused, looking out at the faces in the crowd before going on. “We are not without skill, without defence, but the Ruagans have a strong advantage over us. They have weapons we could never dream of possessing. I assume that all of you know at least what our enemy looks like, but I doubt that you are all aware of exactly what you’re up against. They may have the same basic structure as we have, standing erect on two feet, but otherwise, they are almost completely different.
“We speak the same language, eat the same food, live in communities the same, but they have cultural and governmental customs that are alien to you and I. They are ruled by a king and queen, unlike our militarily controlled government. They are aggressive, brutal, and ruthless. But they are not invincible. They can be beaten, and you are the ones who can defeat them.”
Noah’s face went slack. He had given this speech, or one similar to it, so many times he felt numbed by it.
“As I said, we may have the same basic structure, but we are in no way the same in appearance. Some of you may have heard that the Ruagans do not have any external genitalia. This is true, and it is why they don’t wear clothes as we do; however, it is quite easy to determine their sex. You’ll not likely be seeing their women, but it is not unheard of for their queen to oversee battles. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what they look like, I will explain it to you.
“All Ruagans have wings and tails. The females’ wings look very similar to that of a butterfly or moth, but the males’ resemble a dragonfly.
“The females of this race have stingers camouflaged within what appears to be a flower on the end of their long tails. The sting, if powerful enough, can paralyze a man almost instantly with a milky poison. If the poison isn’t very strong or the sting is not delivered in an area with heavier blood flow, then it will, at the least, render a man unconscious. That is enough to lose your life. The ‘flower’ gives off an aroma that is capable of putting you in a trance, making you vulnerable to her sting. It is also possible, should she get close enough, for her to use the venom from a bite, although it is not likely for her to use this method. Understand that it is important to keep your wits about you when facing any of the enemy, man and woman alike. No, you are not likely to encounter any women in battle, but it is not unheard of.”
He straightened his back, forcing himself to be more expressive. This was an important lesson for the men to learn. They needed to understand what they would be facing.
“The men are what you need to concern yourself with, for they are the ones you will be facing. Most males are very sleek and agile. Their blade-like wings can slice through almost any material; your bones are no exception. Their chests are covered by a strong breastplate. This bone-like plate varies in colour from warrior to warrior. The threat from these warriors, though, comes from a very subtle weapon. Their venom is injected by a cut with one of their fingernails. One scratch can kill you in mere seconds. All it must do is pierce the skin to be in your system, and once it is there, there is nothing that can save you. Nothing.
“The poison from this injection works quickly. Once the nails pierce your skin, the poison goes straight into your bloodstream. Your blood will begin to boil, causing your veins to swell. With every beat of your heart, this boiling blood laced with the acidic poison will coarse through your swelling veins, and as it reaches each organ, your entrails will liquefy. The acid will disintegrate your bones. Your liquefied insides flow in a violent current until your veins finally burst, leaving you limp and lifeless. This liquid will ooze out of every orifice of your body. You will be nothing but a shell of skin and hair, the eyes melting away last. With one touch, you could burst like a water balloon. Most do when they contact the ground—just a puddle and a shell of a body. The smell is horrible, like boiling urine and rotten eggs. This painful death happens within only a few seconds.”
He softened his tone a bit. “I do not tell you this to frighten or discourage you, but to teach you, make you alert, aware so that you will not fall victim. Steel yourself to it, for it is what you will be facing when you fight. You will see your friends dying around you, but you must fight on. We are dead if we allow ourselves to be overcome by fear. I will not lie to you; a lot of you will lose your lives in this war. I have seen many men, young and old, go out into battle and never come back. More men than I dare to count, dare to remember.
“I am not asking you to do anything that I myself have not done. I will be out there fighting by your side, but I cannot help you. You must help yourselves, help each other, by working as one. We are one people fighting one war. We can succeed.”
Although his speech had caused a great deal of discomfort in the men before him, most looked confident as he scanned the crowd. They looked to have accepted their fate, so he went on, telling them why they could win, what weapons they possessed within.
“Every one of you has the ability to use what is inside you, your energy, your life force, as a weapon. We all have the skill required to harness that energy and expel it outside of ourselves, forming it into a beam or ball that can be cast at your enemy. However, they also have this ability and, just as you do, have the ability to deflect such an attack. All of you can, when concentrating that energy, fly. When you use what resources you have, you can accomplish what may seem impossible.
“I know that several of you brought weapons with you, swords and knives. These blades will be an aid, but they are not required. For those of you who do not possess such weapons, you do not need them to fight. You can use your energy, and it is all that is needed. You have what you need to survive, but you must use it without holding back.”
Noah spoke for a time, using the screen behind him to show them pictures of the enemy and of scenes from battles. He showed them the field blanketed with corpses, an ocean of death after the wild chaos of a battle. Several of the pictures showed close up scenes of the death and destruction, and many men turned their eyes away from the gore. By the time the assembly was over, no one was unaware of what they would be facing.
When their orientation meetings with their squadron captains were over, they were sent to the barracks for the evening. They went to bed that night with knowledge of their fate, should they fail, and hope, should they succeed. The volunteers were resigned to the cold truth of war and steeled to face death with their friends and family as they worked as one.


Chapter 3
Far across the dark, churning depths of the ocean, a young Ruagan girl, only eight years old, sat alone in her prison. The room was filled with mysterious jewels, herbs, and books, but they were no company in her solitude. Her only companion was the ever-present burden of responsibility, the shackles of truth.
The girl was special. Her mind, her soul, was untainted by the cruelty that her race seemed to be born with. Her mother despised her innocence and hated her very existence. She secretly locked her in the top of a tower in an abandoned wing of their nation’s castle, thinking that since she had to suffer the child, she would at least make use of her purity. The girl was locked up, but never forgotten.
She had wings of deep purple kissed with silver swirls that shimmered in the rays of the sun. Her short blue hair and solid black eyes, inky orbs with no whites, were very unique. No other being on the planet looked like her. Her black eyes were what decided her name. From the ancient language of magic, her mother had named her Kurome.
Her circular room, home to her since she was but three years in the world, was split into two levels. A staircase along the wall led up onto a balcony lined with shelves. There was one window on the lower level with a stained glass picture of celestial objects, its collared glass casting a combination of hues with the light shining through the smooth shapes the window displayed. From the ground, no one could see through that window, but from above in her tower, Kurome could easily view the ground far below her home. Above her, on the ceiling, was a window made from a single pane of clear glass that she often escaped out of to get food or anything else she required.
She was gifted with a skill like no other, delving into magic most knew nothing of. Her skill was rooted in the use of people’s minds to influence the world outside her prison.
The shelves in the upper level were filled with crystals, all of them representing every individual soul on the planet. Each crystal was filled with the liquid essence of that soul’s life. When that life ended, the crystal would shatter, and the acidic fluid would spill and evaporate into a mist, releasing the spirit of that soul into the afterlife.
There were three different colours of crystals, all a symbol for an individual race. The black was the Ruagans, the blue was the naighen, and the orange was the elves. The elves, which had lived on the island south of the two main continents, had been wiped out by the Ruagans. There was only one known surviving elf.
The lower level of the tower had shelves filled with spell books and herbs of every kind imaginable. In front of the window sat a table with a black stone pestle and mortar. She had a hard clay bowl for fire and a stand for a single crystal also on the table. There was a closet in the room that held more instruments for her spells.
Kurome had a mattress in the middle of the room, but she rarely slept. She was constantly watching everything happening on the outside.
Lately she felt uneasy. She watched and waited, feeling that something was coming. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew that it wasn’t good.
Cole awoke to the irritating shrieks of a bugle. The one who played evidently had little talent for the instrument, but he was successful at the task of waking them. Cole sat up and rubbed his eyes, knowing that they probably had under them dark circles. He hadn’t slept well in days it seemed.
The other soldiers in their first floor room were up and getting dressed. Most were already outside, including Pierce and Otter.
“What’s going on?” he yawned, the question directed at anyone who would respond.
Kai’s bed was to the left of his. As she tied the laces on her shoes, she answered, “We’re getting ready for the battle. We have to assemble the troops out at the site.”
Cole got up and went behind his bed where lockers lined the wall. He opened the door to his and got out his clothes, dressing as quickly as his stiff muscles would allow.
After a rushed breakfast, the soldiers collected at the border of the base and loaded onto trucks. The trucks were driven to a dusty, barren field, not far away from the base, where they unloaded. As Cole walked along, he let his eyes wander absently along the sky and watched as dark clouds moved in. It was almost unnatural the way they moved, churning as they rolled onward at a rapid pace. He dismissed it as simply being a storm and turned his attention to finding Kai.
There was something about Kai that he found intriguing. He wasn’t sure what, but he knew that Kai was hiding something: something big. It seemed like Kai was almost cracking his hard, cold shell, though. Cole had grown to enjoy his company. He thought about how interesting Kai was, the knowledge he seemed to have. He thought about his laugh, that small laugh that he had let escape when they had first met. He thought about his smile he had let shine when he found himself finally accepting their company.
“What am I thinking?!” Cole blurted out to himself. “That’s just wrong!”
“What’s just wrong?” Kai asked as she walked up behind Cole.
“Um…” Cole stammered, not knowing what to say. He couldn’t tell Kai what he had really been thinking. Confusion swept all other thoughts out of his head. Could it be possible that he had feelings for Kai?
“What’s so wrong?” Kai persisted, curiosity sparkling in her bright eyes.
“The, uh…lack of…pepper in the rice yesterday at dinner. Yeah—it was too bland. What an outrage! It’s just wrong!” Cole exclaimed, blushing and putting his hand behind his head. He let out a nervous laugh as Kai looked at him like he was crazy.
“Yeah,” Kai said sarcastically. “How could they?”
Pierce walked up, seeming to be sent just in time to rescue Cole from further embarrassment. “Hey, you two, come on. We’ve got to walk to the field, you know…the war and all.”
“Yeah, let’s get going,” Cole said quickly as he walked off, anxious to get away from the scrutiny of Kai’s gaze. The elf wasn’t convinced by his excuse, and he knew it. He just wanted to get away.
Everyone gathered in their ranks, facing the direction of their enemy. Across the broad, flat field was an army of Ruagans awaiting battle.
Cole looked up once again at the sky. Dark clouds roiled as if the wind were swirling around them, ripping through them in a fit of rage. There was, however, only a slight breeze on the ground.
Cole’s eyes fell upon a single spot of glowing light like a star in front of the dark, furious clouds, and he locked his gaze on it. He heard the battle begin, both sides charging and the space between the two armies rapidly shrinking. Cole kept his eyes on the light until, after only a few seconds, it shot away and disappeared into the distant horizon.
Kurome could feel something coming. She looked up through her window at the dark sky. “It’s too early,” she said to herself.
The ball of light she had conjured at the site of the battling appeared above her skylight and stopped. It turned from orange to blue to black and then exploded in a bright, violent flash. The blaze flooded the room with light and glinted off of the crystals in a swift, circular wave of cascading light around the shelves.
Kurome gasped. The battle had begun.
She had cast the spell to warn her of when the fighting would commence. By the colours it displayed, she knew that all three races were involved.
She wasn’t ready for this yet. Things were not yet all in place.
She rushed over to her table and started a fire. She took three leaves from a jar and ground them into a powder as quickly as she could. Kurome threw the powder into the fire and a red cloud of smoke arose from it. The light seemed to be sucked out of the room into the flames and glowed in the red smoke looming above her head.
A bright beam of light rained down from the sky right between the two armies, ceasing their charge. The powerful beam seemed to stabilize in a long line stretching from the ground into the sky above where it looked to continue on forever. With a sizzling explosion of sound, it spread across the field separating the armies: an impenetrable interloper. Dust rose from the ground, sending a stinging blast of sandy particles back in both directions, striking the men frozen in their tracks. The swirling sky above glowed a faint red in the presence of this phenomenal force field.
When the dust settled and the beam still remained, the officers called their men back in order to examine their situation. They approached warily, not knowing what to expect.
“And if that triggers an explosion?” an officer asked in response to another’s suggestion.
“We don’t know what this thing is or what it will do,” another put in. “But we can’t just stand around and wait on it. I agree that we should at least test it.”
The gathered officers looked to Noah since he was the highest ranking man there; the order was his to give.
“All right,” Noah finally said. “We’ll probe it with a few small energy blasts and see what it does. Be careful not to make them too large, though.”
The officers looked reluctant to be the first to follow the order, lest they be responsible for a possible cataclysmic tragedy. Noah lifted a hand and called forth a small globe of undulating light from his reservoir of energy. Everyone watched as he slowly directed the ball to float toward the barrier before them. Noah held his breath, letting the sphere of his energy contact the mysterious wall. The barrier absorbed the light into itself, sucking the energy away from Noah’s slow progression to take the ball into itself with a sudden whoosh and bright flash.
Several of the men flinched back, some bringing an arm up before their faces as weak protection. Noah stood still, evaluating in his head the feeling of having his energy absorbed by the wall of light.
“It’s all right,” the general called out to his men, keeping his eyes to the force field. “Nothing happened; it just absorbed it.”
A few of the higher ranking officers cast similar blasts of energy along with Noah to see if the same happened every time. One man reached a hand out and touched the beam, recoiling as intense heat burned the flesh of his palm, singeing the hair on his arm all the way up to his elbow.
“That’s enough,” Noah called. “Take the men back to the barracks. There’s no sense in us standing around here. We’ll keep a watch for the time being, in case something changes. Get the men out of here.”
With their inspection completed and the order given, the army retreated, not wishing to be caught there if the situation worsened. They had never seen a more majestic thing in all their lives. There was nothing for them to do but go back to their camp and wait until the next day, thinking that maybe the beam would be gone by then.
Cole strode alone onto the empty battlefield, looking up at the sky as he scuffed his shoes on the parched soil. This place seemed so barren, like nothing had ever lived there. The air smelled of burnt grass, leaving a smoky aroma to drift on the whispering breeze.
The beam before him dissipated as he approached. He walked over and stood where the beam had hit as he searched the sky for movement. The clouds were frozen in place; not even the wind moved them.
All at once, a furious battle cry grew in volume until, in one quick instant, the two armies collided all around him. Cole was surprised at first, but when no one made a move to attack him, he calmed. He stood still and watched the battle. Men from both sides were killed and left where they had fallen. Every man’s eyes were vacant. There was no soul in them, no emotion.
A sudden chill crept up his spine. Panic began to creep into his mind with the realization that his brother was out there somewhere. Pierce could get hurt. He shouldn’t be there. Cole had to find him.
He searched frantically for his brother, worry hastening his movements. Something drew his eyes to a spot in the air, the distance not too far to hear the men’s voices.
A Ruagan warrior was fighting Pierce up above them toward the centre of the mob. His hand was raised and his poison armed and ready. As Cole watched from afar, he felt like time was slowed to torment him more as the scene played out before his eyes.
He held his breath as he helplessly watched the warrior’s arm come rushing down at Pierce.
With a sudden jolt, he saw Otter charging toward them through the air, racing to get to his friend. He pushed Pierce to the side, keeping the Reagan’s attack from striking him.
It hit Otter instead. The enemy’s