The next three days were long and hard. Mathis continued to question Alex's judgment about letting Nevanyk join their party. To Mathis, it seemed that his icy eyes were watching his every move; ready to contradict everything that he did. However, Nevanyk rarely said anything. When it was time to sleep, Nevanyk would not lay down like the rest of the party. Instead, he sat, and fell asleep as he leaned against the closest object, be it a tree, or a rock.
Jezza watched him silently. She did not know why, but for some reason she felt that deep inside that rock hard shell, lay a soft core waiting to be released. She believed that the death of his brother had created this icy shell, and sealed away his true self. She knew she had to somehow release it.
Nevanyk however, was not the only troubled one, for Jezza was still having nightmares; nightmares about the Fire Force. Even though each dream was different, they all revolved around a center point; that Jezza was a member of the Fire Force. This troubled her much. But yet, she could not deny the evidence. She was found wandering aimlessly at the age of five hadn't she? And what about her uncanny ability to use fire magic?
Alex dreamt as well. But his dreams however, were not nightmares. They did however make him feel pain. For every night Alex had the same dream. Every night Alex dreamt of Luna; with her silky blue hair blowing through the wind. Alex dreamt of the peaceful days back on Lunar.
Each night he forgot about his war with the evils that had been caused by Terranox. Because of Terranox, he was in a strange new land. At night his mind would not remember the pain, only the joy. Each night his heart was filled with the greatest jubilation.
However, these dreams of love were like a drug. Each night his heart would fill with bliss, but as soon as he awoke, he remembered that Luna was in the Dark Earth and his heart would be torn to shreds. The only thing that got him through the day was the hope of the dream when he slept.
That night the party slept dreaming of the same things as usual. Jezza dreamt of the Fire Force. Alex dreamt of Luna. Nevanyk dreamt of his revenge. And Mathis dreamt of hopes of someday becoming strong. For in the short time that they had known each other, Alex had became Mathis' role model.
But soon the morning would come and the dreaming would end. For the party had only a short distance to Yakiro, and to what they would find there was yet to be found out.
Yakiro was a city that was surrounded by a gargantuan wall. On top of the walls were large pikes protruding upward to the sky. The only gate was on the southern side. The gate was a large wooden door that looked like it could withstand the mightiest of attacks. There were numerous soldiers guarding the gate.
"What's up with this town?" asked Alex as he gazed at the city. Alex had never seen a city like this back on Lunar.
"It is Yakiro," Nevanyk said expressionless, "a fort-city of the Varganian Empire."
Alex once again gazed at the martial city with wide eyes. "Yakiro," he said thinking out loud. "C'mon, lets go."
When they came closer to the city they noticed how large the walls actually were. The walls were at least forty feet high (fifty feet if you included the pikes). They neared the gate to enter the city.
"We would like to enter the city please," Alex politely said to one of the guards.
"All right, I just need to see-" his proclamation was cut short as he caught sight of Jezza. His eyes immediately widened as he gasped. "I-I-it's you!" Jezza looked puzzled. She had no idea what this man was talking about. Who does he think I am? Her question would soon be answered.
"It's her! Capture her!" Now Jezza was mollified. She had no idea why the Empire wanted her captured. What have I done? she thought. She tried to remember back about what she could possibly have done to anger the Empire. As Jezza remembered back, she realized that this time she actually saw an imperial soldier.
Jezza had no more to time think however, for the soldiers began to attack. "Don't worry Jezza," Mathis said, "we'll protect you." Mathis reached for his sword only to remember that it was destroyed in the battle with Kward. "Dammit!"
Jezza silently giggled to herself. He's so corny. she thought. Corny, but still kinda cute.
"Fool," Nevanyk stated.
"Why don't you do something Nevanyk!" Mathis yelled.
"I have no reason to fight imperial slime. The only reason I joined you was to kill Malachytes. You're on your own." And with those words, Nevanyk silently walked away from the fray.
Meanwhile, Alex was trying his best to hold back the soldiers, but there was just to many of them. Dragon Master or not, he could not take on an entire army on single-handedly.
That's when Mathis remembered about his Matron crystal. With a grin on his face he plucked the orb from his satchel. He held out the blue orb in front of him and chanted a spell that mysteriously entered his head. "ICICLE ATTACK!" A wave of sharp crystal shards were spewed from the air in front of the Matron. The icicles lacerated and impaled the imperial forces.
"Nice going Mathis," Alex said. At hearing this, Mathis' heart was filled with joy. For the first time, Mathis' newly formed hero had given him a compliment. After he got over the joy, he continued his magical assault.
Nevanyk silently watched the battle. "What fools they are. Do they actually think that they can take on the entire Varganian army occupying this city? They are truly haughty."
Just as those words left his lips, the tides changed. A shadowy figure jumped in from nowhere and used an attack that Nevanyk had never seen before. "Haken-Daiyo!" As he said this, he thrust his arm forward and the air seemed to wave. The imperial soldiers lost their balance and began to tremble and fall as if an earthquake was taken place.
The party was stunned. Who was this shadowy figure? And why was he helping them? "What the hell?" Alex asked.
"Shut up and come here if you want to live!" the person called. The party complied, even Nevanyk (which was quite a surprise). When everyone was near, he raised his fist into the air and yelled, "Shira-Nuu!" The man thrust his fist into the ground, and a the air 'waved' again as the party was thrust upward into the sky.
The same energy that flew them upward, brought them down safely. When they landed, they all looked dumbfounded (except for Nevanyk who always had the same expression on his face). And now that the battle fury was gone, they could get a good glimpse at the man who saved them. He was a tad stocky with black hair and glasses. He looked at Alex and outstretched his arm. "Greetings, my name is Aren Rykule."
Alex shook his hand and introduced himself. "Greetings Aren, my name is Alex." The two hands came apart and returned to their owners' sides. "We know that you are not the one who destroyed the cities."
"Good," Aren said, "at least someone does."
"Why Aren," Jezza asked, "does the empire want you dead? And why are they after me?" Jezza's eyes were pleading.
"For the first question, it's because I know too much and went against them. For the latter, it's far more complicated."
"Wait," Nevanyk ordered. "Before you start babbling, first tell me about those attacks that you used."
Aren looked at the man. He could sense that his soul was tormented. "The attack that I did is called the Haken-Daiyo. It disrupts the flow of ki to the targeted area. The soldiers' own ki began to fluctuate randomly and they couldn't keep their balance."
The party was astounded that such an attack was possible. They could hardly imagine how someone would be able to manipulate ki at their whim. "So," Nevanyk said, "you're a ki master right?" Aren nodded his head. "I thought they all died out."
"I'm the last of my breed," Aren said morosely.
"What about the second technique," Nevanyk demanded not caring about the man's feelings.
"It's known as the Shira-Nuu. It causes ki to form an upward spiral sending us airborne. It then slowly dies out to return us safely. If used correctly, you can travel many miles while in the air."
Now satisfied, Nevanyk told him, "All right, you can start babbling now."
"Oh but Nevanyk," Aren said arrogantly, "you just might want to hear this babble. For you see, The Varganian Empire has allied with the Malachytes."
"What!" An inexorable amount of rage filled Nevanyk. He could hardly contain his fury. "Why! Why did the empire join up with those, those, bastards!"
Now that Aren had caught Nevanyk's attention, he began to tell his tale. "You see, Vargan wishes to re-activate the tower of Megalensis."
"Why!?" Jezza asked fearfully. "Why would they want to re-activate such an evil weapon? Doesn't he know about what happened at the end of the Great War!"
Aren nodded. "He wants to use the tower to conquer the entire planet. And yes, he does know what happened at the end of the Great War and has taken that into consideration."
"So he will just let the entire planet be sucked dry of all it's energy!"
"No, Vargan has devised a way to work around that problem."
"What do you mean?"
"Using technology gathered from the ruins of the ancient civilization, he was able to create a devise he calls the Life Shaver. The Life Shaver uses the same concept as the tower, except it drains the life out of people. Vargan plans to use the power of prisoners, and criminals to re-activate the tower."
"The Life Shaver," Alex said to himself. He began to ponder about the things that Ghaleon had used against them. What did he call them? Machines? "Aren?" he asked.
"Yes."
"The technology that Vargan is using, they are machines aren't they."
"Yes how did you know?"
"Back on Lunar, an evil man known as Taben created metal machines that caused great destruction. They ran on steam, I think."
"Back on Lunar?" Aren asked puzzled. Alex had forgotten that Aren didn't know all the details of his adventure. So, Alex told him.
After hearing Alex's tale, Aren continued his. "Anyway, that's one of the reasons that Vargan allied with the Malachytes. They have a deal that the Malachytes have to return anyone that they attack to be drained of all their life."
Nevanyk's heart began to race. Is that the reason why the Malachytes attacked us? If it is, I'll never forgive the Empire. "Aren, how long has this alliance been going on!"
Aren placed his hand on his chin and began to ponder. "Hmm, I'd say about fifteen years now."
Now Nevanyk's rage was unbearable. "You mean then years ago... my brother was...killed for that madman! Aaaaagh!" Nevanyk raised his naginata and slashed the nearest tree. The tree fell in two separate pieces. The blade of the naginata cut through the wood like a hot knife through butter.
Nevanyk stood above the fallen trunk; his chest rapidly moving up and down. Sweat fell from his face. As he raise his clenched fist into the air he vowed, "I swear Vargan! I'll kill you and the rest of your Malachyte bastards! I'll kill you all!"