Fan Fiction ❯ Forbidden Anamnesis ❯ FA Part 4: Explanitory Causes ( Chapter 4 )

SMACK

 

A guard collapsed from the flat of a massive Axe striking him square in the face. The guard opposite him raised his spear to get punched in the stomach with terrifying force. Light faded, as he was rendered unconscious.

 

Aloris broke down the door the guards had been guarding with a simple shoulder tackle. Inside was a score of guards, one by the name of Fiedes. Seeing Aloris make such a hasty enter, Fiedes understood what was happening. He raised his guards spear, and clubbed the nearest of his squad with the flat end of the weapon.

 

Aloris leapt in, smacking the next one with the back of his fist, and then pivoting to strike the next one in the side of the head. The Magnus abilities were as Avarus said. One strike was all he needed to leave everyone other than Fiedes out cold.

 

“What is it?” Fiedes asked. He had planned with Aloris that in need of problems, this was what to do to attract the least attention. Later, he was to take a sedative and pretend an intruder struck him from behind.

“I need a wagon, a couple horses, a small sack of gold, rations, and anything else necessary for travel I've left out. I need to leave the kingdom on many accounts.” Aloris explained as he darted around collecting random things he viewed as necessary.

 

Fiedes didn't need to ask of his intentions. He figured if it was enough to make Aloris leave the kingdom, he'd find out by morning. He had pledged loyalty to Aloris, and stood at his defence regardless of a crime he may have committed.

 

With the help of Fiedes, Aloris had a wagon prepared within an hour. The market was going to be busy with the early risers soon, and he knew he had to escape the city before then. Saying farewell to Fiedes, Aloris sped off in the direction off in the direction of the townhouse Ciere and Xyan occupied.

 

~*~

 

Zyn kicked the door open and heaved Cautor onto a nearby chair. He had passed out three quarters of the way here and force Zyn to drag him. She awoke Ciere and explained they had to leave. Ciere seemed to wince as he got up, yet Zyn had no time. She strapped on new vambraces onto her forearms as well as Xyan's to cover the foreblades, and put the over sized cloak on Xyan in an attempt to delude attention from the Fenejian physical traits.

 

Aloris' arrived and Zyn and Ciere loaded the wagon with supplies from around the house as well as the unconscious bodies of Xyan and Cautor. Zyn handed Aloris a large cloak so no one recognized the run away prince and got Ciere to steer the horses. By the time the first people had gone about their daily routine, the caravan was outside the city gates headed off south of the Kingdom.

 

~*~

 

 

“Where are we headed?” Ciere finally piped in after several hours of travel. Conversation had been avoided as they travelled through the thick forest. The party was injured and if a pack of animals came for them, chances are they wouldn't survive. Lucky for them, the sun loomed high in the sky eliminating most threats.

 

“To a town by the name of Sibyk. It's supposed to have excellent priests capable of healing arts unknown to most of the world. I found out about it from my father before mother died.” Aloris replied. His expression hadn't change and Zyn grew worried. She had seen Aloris is a mood like this, but never for such a long time.

 

“We're also going to have you checked and see if we can remove the malformed Magnus from your right arm.” Ciere seemed startled at Aloris' comment.

“Ciere has a Magnus lodged in his arm?!” Zyn exclaimed.

“Think about it for a moment. When he came into your home, he was clutching his right shoulder. He offered to stay behind and look after Xyan. He's worn that long sleeved shirt on these warm summer days as well as a glove over one hand. Where did you find him?”
“…Resting in bed.” Zyn responded.

“Exactly, he winced when he got up I presume. Also, Avarus mentioned 6 Magnus. We have 3 of them, and 2 basis crests. Xyan obliterated 2 when slaying the Drow, which leaves one missing.”

 

Ciere sat there silently before responding. “So if you knew that I had the Magnus, how do you know it's malformed?”

 

“Chances are you don't have a basis crest, or you wouldn't be affected negatively. That means you have the Magnus imbedded into your shoulder. Your Magnus must be dysfunctional or else it would have corrupted you and turned you into a similar version of the bear, bobcat, or the Drow.”

Ciere sat there before saying “Highly observant.” He took of his shirt and removed the glove over his right hand revealing a grey Magnus placed on his shoulder that seemed to be clouded my a shroud of black mist.. Covering his entire arm, a black symbiotic-like substance spread from fingertips to the right side of his chest and back, and closing in on his neck and rib. Zyn stared in disbelief at the atrocity covering her brother.

 

Ciere saw Zyn's face and explained. “A few weeks ago I was jumped. They didn't attack me, but just jabbed this into my shoulder. I don't know who did it; all I know is that my arm went pitch black and kept spreading until it touched my wrist. Ever since, it's being spreading at a slow rate. It's not entirely bad though.”

 

“Such as what?” Aloris enquired.

“Well, I seem to have an odd control over it. Watch.” A few seconds later the arm began to fade and became transparent. It then began to change into various shapes before he willed it back into the shape of his arm. “Enough about this - How's Xyan?”

Zyn moved the spot where both Xyan and Cautor lay propped up by supplies. She placed her hand on his icy skin and felt the same hollow pulse as before.

 

“Same as it was when we left.”

Zyn then noticed something different. A faint glowing aura seemed to be emitted by the Amulet underneath his shirt. She couldn't tell how she could see it, but that didn't matter. She pulled it out and examined it. The crystal in the middle was white, and it was clearly pulsing. She felt a pulsing on her left hand too. Her ring, with three Soulstones embedded into it got warm, and the Soulstones changed colour to white. Something was going on, and she didn't like it.

 

FLASH

 

Zyn stood in the ruins of a courtyard of ages past. A place that had a sort of value to her, like she's been there before. Curiosity overthrew confusion as she wandered around. Homes stood, crumbled due to what looked like an onslaught from an opposing nation. She carried on, up a long set of stairs to what appeared to be a Fortress.

 

Zyn looked around. Not a soul was within sight, so she raised her hand and knocked on the giant doors only to discover her hand passed straight through the door. She assumed that she was having a dream of some sort, so she stepped through the doors and followed the red carpet onto a dais.

 

On the dais sat a man on the throne, hooded from all to see, armour of the highest quality engraved with runes was set upon him as his gaze looked upon the man kneeling before him. Zyn turned her attention to the man as he threw back his hood to reveal grey hair, yet a familiar energy presence. Zyn nearly fainted as she spotted a long tail with blades sprouting from the ends; identical to that of Xyan's. In a severely shadowed, hollow voice, the man sitting on the throne spoke.

 

“Nadar…Why is it you come before me…”
“I bring news of Xyan. By the death of Avarus, Duke of Alterea, we have discovered that Ael'jian survives and grows stronger within the body of the son of Lhunroth.”

“You know well Xyan matters little to me. Ael'jian is all I need, as well as that priestess from Sibyk. The priestess comes first. Then we shall head after the other 2 before reclaiming Ael'jian. Leave the Fenejian vessel alone.”
“But my lord! If Xyan continues to go about his business in this conduct, we run the risk of Ael'jian becoming strong enough to resist your abilities!”

“They still must repair the Amulet before Xyan awakens from his coma. And even when that happens, he's still going to have a big problem with the soul separation. ”

 

The man sat silently. Zyn tried to grasp what she heard - It only seemed to get worse. She was curious about the priestess they mentioned and the “other 2” they needed.

 

“What about the rest of his company? Surely they will defend him, and Ael'jian isn't the only one capable of destroying your minions.” The Fenejian man by the name of Nadar explained. Zyn thought she had heard that somewhere before, but couldn't put her finger on it.

“The prince of Alterea poses no threat on his own, it's merely the Magnus he has. We should never have trusted Avarus with 2 of the Evolutionary Sphere's. We shall destroy him none-the-less. The guard among them is a mere mortal, easily slain. The one Lhunroth adopted is posing a bigger threat, I'll admit, due to the Evolutionary Sphere we experimented on him, but that's nothing we can't deal with later. The Oracle reincarnate proves to be a problem though. In fact she has been watching us this entire time. Standing directly behind you as we speak.” The wraith-like voice announced.

 

Zyn's heart sank. This wasn't a dream, somehow her conscious had been removed from her body and brought to some odd land where the one they thought were trying to assassinate Aloris was actually planning something worse. Before she knew it, another soothing, feminine voice kicked in from behind.

 

“Come child. All shall be made clear over time.”

 

 

FLASH

 

Zyn spat out water. Over her was Ciere holding a bucket awaiting her to awaken. He helped her sit up and asked her what's wrong. She explained to them all what she had seen and heard.

 

“So we have to fix the Amulet to awaken Xyan? What's wrong with it?” Aloris asked.

Ciere examined it. On the underside of the ancient, brittle amulet was a small crack, barely noticeable and easily fixable. Ciere had blacksmithing skills so he began working on repairing it, being highly cautious due to his knowledge of how brittle it was, as well as the “soul” being trapped in the Amulet.

 

A few hours from Sibyk, Xyan's pulse resumed normal speed. They let him rest and planned on what they should do. After much hard debating, they decided to pursue the priestess and the other 2 mentioned in Zyn's vision. Upon confirming their course of action, they heard voices being raised off to the side of the road in the forest, and then the clashing of steel.

 

Xyan awoke to the clashing of blades, and hastily stood up. Zyn and Ciere were about to force him down, but Xyan was already out of the wagon running out into the forest, vambraces unlatched and cloak discarded with Aloris and his massive axe on his heels. Ciere picked up a broad sword - one of the many weapons packed in the caravan - and followed Aloris and Xyan. Zyn sighed, picked up her katana, and headed off towards the battle.

 

~*~

 

An arrow flew from the string of a white mage's bow. Although it was highly irregular to see a priestess carrying a weapon other than a staff, the healer felt the need to protect herself. The arrow spun across the small plain the battle was on and struck her target in the shoulder, weakening it just enough so that her mage companion rendered the enemy lifeless with a vicious blow to the side of the head with his staff. Raising his right hand, a ball of energy formed in his hand and fired a bolt of ice at another enemy.

 

On cue, Xyan and Aloris ruptured from the forest yelling battle cries. The eyes of the renegade human's assaulting the priestess and the mage turned to witness an extreme axe crush through the torso of one of their companions, as well as what appeared to be a mutated human spin and decapitate another with its tail.

 

Immediately after the surprise assault, an extremely tall human with an eerie arm of shadow burst out, cutting through another, while a female resembling a ninja leapt over her companions heads, to land on another human and stab him point blank with her katana.

 

Xyan's steel coloured eyes spun to pick another target through his long brown bangs. Only moments ago he had resumed consciousness and he was already in another fight. He dug his foreblades in a human's back then pulling up and out, severing a place in the enemy's spine.

 

Spinning around he was barely able to duck a javelin thrown from the other end of the field. 3 figures, cloaked with pitch-black robes stood before the tree line. One wielding a large spiked club, the other a cluster of javelins and the other with a two-handed sword of barbaric nature. Another javelin was thrown at Xyan who neatly side stepped and caught it in midair. He spun around twirling the javelin in a show-off style, challenging his new opponents. Aloris and the Mage stood directly off behind him, the mage charging another attack and Aloris with his axe flung over his shoulder.

 

The one with the club ran at them with demonic speed, striking Xyan and Aloris with a horizontal swipe sending them flying into the forest brush. Aloris managed to land on his feet and dash towards them while Xyan struck a tree. Swinging his great axe with tremendous force, Aloris missed the clubbed enemy and was sent flying from a simple kick in the chest. Landing with a skid on his back, he deduced that these fighters had Magnus on.

 

The mage fired a blast of ice at the sword-wielding figure. He easily deflected it and swung at the Mage, only to get an arrow in his shoulder. He pulled it out like it was a mere twig and changed his assault to the Healer. 10 yards before reaching her, he was kicked in the back, toppled over and decapitated by a furious Xyan.

 

Ciere ran at the club-wielding enemy and managed to disarm him at the cost of his own weapon. Locked in a hand-to-hand struggle with the cloaked figure, Ciere was barely able to hold his own against the opposition before the Mage came in, ripped the black glove from his hand revealing an ancient magic of some sort before putting his hand on Ciere's opponent. The figure let out a scream of sheer terror as his body began to weaken and cause him to collapse before them.

 

The third cloaked man dropped the javelins, and with a simple spin of his wrist, his team member's barbaric blade flew into his palm. Outnumbered by 6, the man pointed to Xyan and challenged him. Zyn quickly tried to stop her brother for worry that this had something to do with the men in her visions, but Xyan accepted the challenge anyway.

 

The man thrust the blade at Xyan. With speed only a true Fenejian could obtain, Xyan ducked down, and kicked off ramming his shoulder into the adversary's stomach, knocking him back. After a quick recovery, the man swung the blade in a horizontal arc, which Xyan leapt on top of the blade, forcing it into the dirt below with the full force of his weight. Quickly running up the blade, Xyan sent a roundhouse kick in the face. The man staggered before falling over with the Fenejian warrior standing over him; a look of sheer hatred glaring down at the fallen being.

 

Zyn stared at the fallen man; a feeling resided deep inside her that something was wrong. Before she could figure what the feel was, she noticed that the aura's she recently began to see started to fade in whole from the cloaked soul. In a demonic motion, the being raised his arm pointed at the Xyan's chest, and sent a full blast of energy directly onto the talisman around his neck. Xyan began to glow, and his body began to twist out of form as it separated into two Fenejian's.

 

Both stood up, nearly identical to one another. One kept the original looks of Xyan while the other had ghostly blue hair and eyes of a golden shade. Around his neck was the half of the brittle Amulet that resembled the moon, and half the soulstone; while around the one resembling Xyan rested the sun part of the Talisman with the other half of the soulstone. Their eyes cross paths, and within an instant, they leapt for each other in an identical attack pattern. In an instant, both of their feet struck the other one square in the face, only the one resembling Xyan the most was sent flying into the forest.

 

“Pathetic. To think I was once part of that body…” The blue haired Fenejian said.

 

Aloris lifted his great axe and slung it over his shoulder. “Obviously speaking, you are not our friend. Do you have a proper name…?” He questioned.

“Aelin. Do not concern yourself in these matters - Xyan must die.”

 

Zyn looked on in a confused expression. Before her stood her brother, only corrupted. And with the words he had just said, she felt certain she couldn't sit there and watch her brother die by the hands of his duplicate.

 

With little warning, Zyn threw her katana at Aelin with intentions of a surprise attack she had used on a renegade in past years. Aelin caught the sword out of midair, spun around and hit the white mage across her face with the flat of the blade. Spinning to attack Zyn, the blade passed over her head as she ducked and hit Aelin in the stomach. Recoiling from the hit, Aelin dropped the sword and clutched his stomach as he took a few steps back to distance himself from the enraged Fenejian.

 

Aloris and Ciere had ran behind him; Ciere putting his arms underneath Aelin's armpits and then behind his neck, while Aloris stomped down on his tail and resting his axe against it in a threatening manner. Zyn extended her foreblades and levelled them with Xyan's replica.

 

“What the hell is going on?!” Zyn yelled at him. With an arrogant smirk, Aelin sent Zyn, Aloris and Ciere flying off into the distance.

“Do you really expect me to tell you? I haven't the time to meddle in your childish affairs. I advise you leave before I slay you along with Xyan.”

“You mean this guy right?” The mage rang out from the edge of the tree line. The magician was dragging an unconscious Xyan with him until he reached the rest of the party. In a blind fury, Aelin leapt towards him only to fall short to one of the mage's spells. An invisible barrier erected around Xyan and him knocked the Fenejian into the brush. Twirling his staff, the mage created a small tear in the foundation of the world, and then forced it into a portal. Dragging Xyan, and motioning for the rest to follow, the mage leapt into the portal below.