Book Two:
Whispers Through Time
Written By:
Evan Phelps.
Part One Turning Tables.
Chapter One Broken Tension.
Kyadus and Torsaine stared at Aerion in amazement after he had just completely shattered their perception of reality. Aerion, now having revealed his identity, put the cloak back on and threw the hood up to cover his face once again, and took a step towards them as he said, "You boys look very surprised to see me"
Kyadus quickly glanced over at Torsaine, who continued to stare at their former friend and newly resurrected enemy, and then focused his full attention on Aerion once more. Kyadus took a few steps to his left, which further increased the distance between himself and Torsaine. Once he was settled into a loose fighting stance he said, "I can't speak for Torsaine, but I'm a bit more curious than surprised, and a little pissed off"
"To be honest with you I'm pretty damn surprised, and pissed of as well," Torsaine said.
Aerion thought over things for a moment before he said, "Either way, you cannot prepared for it"
"Prepared for what?" Kyadus scoffed. "To learn the horrible secret of your ascension back to the Earth from beyond the deepest pits of Hell"
"It's not quite as simple as that," Aerion said as he smiled to himself.
"It never is," Torsaine chimed in, trying to lighten the tension sodden mood just a bit.
"Joke all you want now," Aerion said, "because you won't be around much longer to enjoy it"
"Are you and this pathetic excuse for an army planning on killing us?" Kyadus asked.
"Nope, just little old me"
"Oh really, then why do you even have an army in the first place"
"To distract your forces while I kill the both of you"
"Good luck with that one," Torsaine said as he remembered they had the swords to use to their advantage.
"You're even cockier now I see," Aerion said. "Well, I guess I'll just have to remedy that"
All three men stood in a shared silent stare. The already explosive tension was continuing to mount and then it finally broke.
Kyadus and Torsaine looked over at each other and then they charged at Aerion. Aerion ran forward and leaped clear over Kyadus' head. Kyadus and Torsaine stopped, and they pulled their swords out as they turned towards Aerion.
Aerion landed on the ground in a crouch then rolled forward until he was standing. At this point he was about eight feet away from Kyadus and Torsaine. He stood and quickly looked over the force that Ifriena had gathered and signaled for his army to attack. He turned around very slowly as the forces started to engage each other and noticed the swords from the cave. "This should make things more interesting," he said to himself as he pulled out his own enchanted sword.
Kyadus ran to Aerion's left while Torsaine went to his right so they could flank him and split up his concentration.
Aerion recognized their attempt and threw both of his arms straight out. He lowered his head in deep thought and made his sword glow with green energy. After just a split second the same green energy appeared over his other hand and a new sword materialized. He grasped the sword out of the air just as Kyadus reached him and struck him back. Torsaine was just a moment behind and he shot a fireball at Aerion.
Aerion pulled back the sleeve of his cloak and absorbed the fireball with his iron gauntlet. He channeled the blazing energy from the gauntlet and launched it into the sky, which caused a series of lightning bolts to scorch the battlefield.
Most of the bolts just harmlessly hit the ground. A few of the bolts struck the MECHS and tanks that Ifriena had gathered. Only one of the bolts struck a Chinook that Aerion had brought. The Chinook plummeted to the ground and Aerion hurled himself out of the way, missing the impact zone by about two and a half feet, and missing the cutting arc of the blades by mere inches.
Since Kyadus had been knocked back and Torsaine was still about four feet away neither of them were affected by the Chinook crash. They looked around and found that they were about seven feet away from a downed MECH. Kyadus nodded to Torsaine and they moved to the other side of the fallen machine.
Kyadus sheathed the sword on his back and pulled out his tachyonic rifle and tachyonic pistol combo. Torsaine sheathed one of the swords he had and equipped himself with a cypino flamethrower from a massive drop pouch that was way more than filled with plasma grenades, ryshan rockets, naitrop mines, and some of the more interesting and experimental items left to them by the late Dofrias.
"Good to go?" Torsaine asked.
"Almost," Kyadus said. He pulled out his cell phone and called Ifriena. When she answered he said, "You need to get yourself, Sorhan, and Mendoza's crew out of here now! Things are getting messy over here and we can't afford to lose you to friendly fire, or any fire for that matter"
"Where should we go?" she asked.
"To Sortami's house," Kyadus said after a short pause.
"Why would we want to go to the enemies house"
"Because, they would never suspect it"
"You're right, good point"
"I know, now get out of here fast." He ended the call and put his cell phone away.
"Ready now?" Torsaine asked.
"Sure. You take the left, I'll take the right. Let's go," Kyadus said as he got against the MECH in the kneeling position.
Torsaine backed into the machine and lobbed a plasma grenade over it. They stayed down for just a few seconds after the explosion, but then they were up and moving.
Ifriena put her phone back into her pocket after her talk with Kyadus and picked up the radio. "Mendoza, this is Ifriena, over"
"Ifriena, this is Mendoza. Go ahead, over," Mendoza said.
"We need to get out of here. Kyadus said it's about to get too hot to stay. He said to get you and your team out. Meet me back over at Tolsmyre, over"
"Sounds good. See you there in a few minutes, over"
"Roger, out"
Ifriena set down the radio and turned to Sorhan. "You've got to come with me to Sortami's house for a little while"
"I don't even know you," he protested. "Why do I have to go"
"Because Kyadus told me to take you. Also, if you stayed here or didn't leave with me you would most surely die. There, now is that a good enough reason for you"
"I'm sold," he said.
"Good," she said. "Now just stick with me and we'll both be fine"
She then began to swiftly weave her way through the destruction of the battle. She made it into the rear of the MECH formation and found a decent enough looking one to use. She ran to the side of it and pounded on the side hatch. It opened and she climbed in as Sorhan followed closely behind.
The man inside operating the machine looked surprised that this bold and rebellious woman, who began this attack, would so suddenly arrive at his mechanical steed in the midst of the heated battle.
"We need you to transport us out of here." Ifriena said as she and Sorhan closed the hatch.
"Why would I do that?" he asked with bewilderment. "I was given orders, by you in fact, to stand and fight"
"You can come back and kick some ass later, once you've fulfilled your new duties. We need to be taken back to Tolsmyre. Drop us off there safely and you're free, in fact you're ordered to come back here and fight"
"That works for me." the man said as he maneuvered around the other MECHS and back towards Tolsmyre. "My name is Jonathon by the way, but you can short it to Jonnie or Jon if you want"
"Well thank you for the lift Jonathon"
"No problem Ma'am, just doing what I know is right." Jonnie said. He piloted the MECH through the slightly crowded city with an almost unnatural grace and ease of control.
Ifriena noticed his apparent skills and she asked, "How many times have you piloted a MECH before Jonnie"
"Today is my first day. Why do you ask?" he wondered.
"You just seem so natural at it, like you've done it for many years"
"No, I've actually been a jet pilot for the Mozahki Empire throughout my entire twenties. Last year when I hit thirty Sortami figured I was too old for the strain and moved me to his home office for administrational duties. I was the best pilot he has ever had, but he let me go anyway. This is the first time I've been able to pilot anything more exciting than a sports car in almost fifteen months. It feels so good to get into the pilot's chair and let loose again"
"Is that why you decided to join our factions in the resistance?" Sorhan asked.
"That's the biggest part of it, but another part of it is that paperwork is so boring. I need some excitement in my life or I will go insane. Besides, I am actually fighting for a worthy cause, instead of just raging for nothing like many criminals out there. I have a purpose now, I have innocent lives to save from the tyrannical grip of Sortami"
"I am assuming you're not the only one he has wronged." Ifriena said. "So why did it take us to come along and shake things up? Why couldn't you and all the others do this on your own"
"None of us really had the motivation to do this alone, so it took you to rally us all together as a united front to get things moving. Now things are going full swing and our voices are finally being heard." Jonnie paused for a second before continuing. "Sometimes what they say is true"
"What would that be Jonnie?" Sorhan asked. "What do they say"
"I was just saying that it has been said that all it takes is one person to change the entire world." Jonnie said. "This looks to be proof enough of it to me. One man, Kyadus, decides that the empire is fully corrupt and he wants to do something about it. Now here we are, some months later, and the war is beginning to reclaim the world and to put it back under a proper system of government"
"I have been wondering about something." Sorhan said.
"What would that be?" Ifriena asked.
"Since the Mozahki Empire started off after Russia and China joined forces and gathered all the political power, where will all the power go to after we have seized it back"
"What exactly do you mean?" asked Jonnie.
"Well, I guess I want to know is who will hold the power if we can pull this off and topple the Mozahki Empire?" Sorhan gathered his thoughts for another moment before he added more. "Will America hold it? Will the area of Europe hold it? Or will it go back to the way things used to be back when all the countries had their own form of government"
Ifriena sat for a moment, utterly perplexed by this simple question. She had been a part of the uprising for a little while now, but she had no viable answer to offer up. She mulled over any type of response for a moment more before she spoke again. "I guess in theory Kyadus will be like an empire leader himself until he can get the power more evenly distributed to the rest of the world. I think Kyadus will end up being the new leader of the government in America, and he will probably appoint other rulers to take over the other areas of the world"
"I still have trouble understanding." Sorhan expelled with a heavy sigh, a slump of the shoulders, and a hanging of his head.
"What do you not understand?" Ifriena asked.
"You said Kyadus will hold all the power, right?" Sorhan asked.
"Yes. At first he will hold all the power." Ifriena replied.
"Than what makes it different from the very thing we are trying to take down?" he asked as he raised his head and stared hard into Ifriena's eyes.
"Well, we are nothing close to evil." she replied.
"It doesn't matter about good or evil!" Sorhan spat. "A dictatorship is still a dictatorship, regardless of the motives behind it"
"I really don't think we would ever be like that." Ifriena said defensively.
"Bullshit!" Sorhan shouted as he jumped up from his seat. "History always has a nasty way of repeating itself, and we humans are too stupid and too stubborn to change"
"What are you ranting about?" she asked. "You sound a little bit on edge and unbalanced there"
"Don't you see it? We are tearing down one empire just to build up another one"
"Kyadus told me that you told him you would be willing to help"
"Sometimes the best way to gain a persons trust it to lie to them"
"How could you be against us? We are doing the world a service!" she shouted, getting just as riled up as he was.
"It's rather easy in fact. Besides, Hitler thought he was doing the world a service by cleansing it of millions of Jews"
"We are not like that." she said as she turned her back.
"Just give it time." he said. "You'll see what I mean. Just wait"
With that the conversation was over. Jonnie continued to pilot MECH effortlessly through the city streets. The rest of the ride was in silence, except for the sounds coming in from outside the MECH.
Ifriena brooded on how disrespectful Sorhan had been, rather than try to absorb his message. It was all in one ear and out the other, but the impact of this apparent betrayal would last within her forever. Still, for some strange reason she didn't want to lose him as an ally. She knew that he was in prison with Kyadus and that he knew all of what had happened so far. She thought after all that he would be ready to go, but things just didn't turn out that way after all.
Sorhan sat there and rubbed his temples with first two fingers. He had done all he could do to try and prevent what he knew was inevitably going to happen. There was nothing left for him to do except go to Kyadus himself, but he just decided it was best to go about his own way and let the idiots make their mistakes.
Jonnie pulled the MECH around into the parking area of Sortami's house and said, "Well kids, we're here"
Ifriena stayed in her seat and waited until Sorhan was exiting the MECH. Sorhan got to the entrance and said, "Good luck and have a nice life"
He continued through the door and was almost gone when Ifriena called to him. "Wait Sorhan"
Sorhan turned around but did not move any closer to the entrance of the MECH. "What is it"
"So you're just going to leave and go about your life"
"Yeah. I sure am"
"Why won't you help us"
"I'm not feeling like a very generous guy today"
"The war will start to spread farther soon. Where will you go"
"Like you care." he muttered under his breath. He turned around and began to walk away. He heard Ifriena call back to him again, but he ignored her words and kept moving. He heard her climb out of the MECH and fall to the ground. He looked back long enough to see a desperate and hurt look in her eyes. He almost felt sad for her, but he just turned around and kept moving.
Ifriena saw him look back only for a moment after she purposefully fell from the MECH. She thought she could see something of the nature of pity and humanity in his eyes, but that was just a cold and shallow mask. He turned away again and continued on without looking back again.
She picked herself up off the ground and dusted all the grass off. She hung her head slightly as she walked to the main door of the massive house and sat on the front steps. For a while there she thought she was going to be able to keep it together and remain stoic, but after all that had just happened in the last few minutes overwhelmed her and she wept bitterly. She was alone on the front steps for about ten minutes before Mendoza arrived with her crew and by then she told herself that she was done with crying and ready to take action.
Kyadus screamed his loudest and mightiest war cry as he ran in towards Aerion, and Torsaine did quite the same. Aerion had moved back, knowing that he would be charged, and was standing about thirty five yards back from the MECH had fallen. Kyadus fired only a few rounds from both his tachyonic rifle and pistol before Aerion was struck in the chest twice and collapsed to the ground.
Torsaine took this chance to shoot a ryshan rocket at the pathetic writhing figure of Aerion. The movement of Aerion on the ground from any one else would have appeared as the pain of a wounded foe, but what Aerion was doing was getting into a feral crouch. As soon as he saw the rocket Torsaine had planned to use he tensed up all of his muscles and leaped into the air performing a simple back flip as the rocket streaked dangerously close beneath him.
Kyadus fired a few more rounds as Aerion flipped, but they were lost in the billowing folds of his long and flowing cloak. Kyadus was pissed off at Aerion's choice to hide behind bulletproof armor, so he tucked aside his tachyonic pistol and pulled out a very well crafted knife made for throwing. The knife was hidden in a sheath that was located where most people put a pistol holster. Kyadus judged the distance, the power needed, and the angle for a split second before he let it fly. Aerion was not expecting this, but he was fast enough to move himself out of the most deadly position. The knife bit deep into the very top of his right shoulder instead of slashing through his vulnerable throat and jugular. Even though the would was not fatal it still caused Aerion a great deal of pain and made him a little easier to handle.
Aerion ripped the knife out and hurled it right back at Kyadus. Aerion was not as skilled as Kyadus was at the art of throwing and the blade hit the thick bone of Kyadus' hip, doing little damage and causing some slight pain. Kyadus pulled his blade out of his hip and threw the knife one more time. This time Aerion was prepared for it and moved his head as the knife whizzed by right at the level of his neck again. The blade flew past and landed harmlessly on the battlefield behind him.
Torsaine fumbled for another rocket in his pack, but ended up finding a plasma grenade instead. He put the grenade back quickly and searched again for another rocket. After a few seconds he pulled out another plasma grenade and cursed his luck, but decided to use it any. He activated the grenade and threw it just as Aerion was distracted by a knife flying by his head. Even though Aerion had turned his head the other way he must have known that the grenade was on it's way.
Aerion saw a grenade that Torsaine planned on using, and as he turned away from the flying knife and the grenade became airborne he simply threw up his iron gauntlet. The arc of the grenade brought it down to about two feet from Aerion and at mid stomach when it actually exploded. Aerion flipped his wrist right before the explosion and activated his gauntlet. All of the light and killing power from the grenade seemed to hang on the air for a second before it was absorbed by the gauntlet and launched back at Torsaine in a blinding instant.
Torsaine had stopped charging at Aerion once he had first hit the ground. Now Torsaine thought about diving out of the way of the blast, but he knew even though he was thirty yards away there wasn't enough time. He put the sword in front of himself and deflected to blast safely around himself.
Kyadus however didn't stop running, even after the knife dug into his hip. He kept closing the gap and was only fifteen yards away from Aerion when he pulled his enchanted sword back out from its sheath on his back. He fired a few more shots from his tachyonic rifle as he began to swing the sword in smooth, broad strokes.
Aerion dropped to the ground as soon as the first crack of gunfire began again. This was what Kyadus was hoping for. He was using the gunfire to distract Aerion from the bright red energy that was now fully enveloping the sword. Kyadus got within ten yards and unleashed a great stream of fire.
Aerion lifted his head from the ground just in time to see a jet of fire coming at him and duck it back down again. The fire washed over him and burned everything on him that wasn't fire retardant, which was surprisingly little. Aerion had recently been given this fire resistant battle gear for just such purposes. His exposed hair was singed, his limbs got heated a bit, and he felt a fair bit of pain, but his clothing did an excellent job at keeping him alive. He rolled around for a second before he got up and charged at Kyadus who was only six yards away now.
Torsaine started running again as soon as the blast had hit. He was closing in on twenty yards when a great flame shot from Kyadus' sword and struck Aerion's prone body. He was still about fifteen yards away when Aerion leaped up to charge at Kyadus. Torsaine charged his own sword and shot a wall of wind at Aerion's body. The wave of air hit Aerion and he staggered and began to fly back, but he threw his arm down and the gauntlet slowed him to a complete stop.
Kyadus saw Aerion charge at him and then suddenly stop and fly back as a wave of white/blue energy hit him. Kyadus saw Aerion steel himself against the assault and come to a stop. Kyadus took this advantage to leap at Aerion and tried to take his gauntlet of power. He reached for the iron gauntlet but it bristled with power and sent an equal sized shock wave of wind back at Kyadus. Kyadus flew back and landed on the ground at the exact distance away from Aerion that Torsaine was. Kyadus and Torsaine locked eyes for a quick second and shared a mutual nod. They both stared Aerion down hard and charged at him in unison. Kyadus opened fire with his tachyonic rifle and Torsaine swung the sword in a simple training kata, waiting for a chance for the enchanted blade to strike at a point of soft flesh. Both men were within ten yards of Aerion and Aerion lunged forward at them with his iron gauntlet charging up for an attack.
Aerion waited until they closed within two yards before he lunged forward and performed a flailing summersault, which knocked the rifle out of Kyadus' hand and the sword out of Torsaine's hand. Aerion was now maybe seven feet on them when he stopped himself and turned around to face the two stunned men. "You really thought you could take me down. How sad it is for you to be wrong once again"
"Of course we can take you down." Kyadus said.
"We just haven't yet because we want you to feel better about yourself before you die." Torsaine added.
"Please," Aerion said with a sarcastic chuckle. "You couldn't kill me if I was already unconscious and bleeding to death"
"Believe whatever you want, "Kyadus said, "but it doesn't change what the truth is"
Aerion was just stalling until his gauntlet received enough power from the sun to vaporize both men before they could object. Neither of the men moved and Aerion saw an odd look run across Torsaine's face, so he quickly turned around and saw a stray grenade coming his way. He lunged toward the direction where the grenade was coming and then ran from the area of impact at full force.
Kyadus and Torsaine threw themselves back and barely cleared the grenades large kill radius and they even made it out of the wound radius just in time. They stopped for a moment after the explosion and scanned the area for where Aerion could have gone.
Aerion had managed to escape the blast of the grenade, but he also left the little empty circle in which the battle had formed around. He was now stuck in the middle of a sea of combatants from both sides and started to kill any one he saw who was loyal to the Chaos Triad. Once the soldiers from the Mozahki Empire realized Aerion was there they backed off a bit and let him slaughter as much as his little heart desired. By the time Kyadus and Torsaine had made their way back into the fray, Aerion had killed around half of the Chaos Triad loyalists around him and was covered in blood and gore, panting slightly, but in ecstasy instead of exhaustion. When Kyadus and Torsaine were approaching, Aerion was already wiping the blood off his face and was beginning a disturbing laugh that could chill the blood of the most stalwart man alive. He threw his arms in the air and turned in a quick circle as he said, "I hope you don't mind too much that I killed all of those men of yours, but they just got in the way. It is a pity that they were here for your little cause"
"You're such a smug bastard. Did you know that?" Kyadus asked.
"Thanks for the compliment, but I didn't expect it from the likes of you." Aerion taunted.
"It wasn't a compliment," Kyadus said bluntly, "and you don't deserve it from the likes of me either. Also, being a smug bastard is not a good thing, you know. I'm just throwing that out there for you, feel free to pick it up"
"You know, I would, but I'm not a bitch like you and I don't whore around trash with me everywhere"
"What does that even mean?" Kyadus said with disgust. "You should try having thoughts that are coherent for once. You might actually make some progress in life if you try that"
At this point Torsaine was getting pissed off at their petty insults and just exploded with, "The two of you need to shut the fuck up before I have to give the both of a you a full frontal lobotomy. You are arguing like stupid schoolgirls and it is getting us no where at all. Words are just words after all and will mean nothing when the day is done, so let's do something a bit more permanent and just finish the fight already. God you guys are fucking bitches! I swear sometimes you would be lost in the sauce without me"
Both Kyadus and Aerion just stared in mild disbelief at what Torsaine had just said. Aerion then broke a smile and said, "Don't you dare start whining about how badly I will kick your asses bef"
"I said shut the fuck up Douche McBaggins!" Torsaine screamed as he thrust a knife hand in Aerion's direction and he immediately fell silent. He turned to Kyadus and whispered, "Let's just get this over with, but try not to kill him if that's a all possible. I want him to stay alive, but if you can't avoid killing him it will be no big loss to us"
"Yeah, but I just really hate this guy right now!" Kyadus fumed. "Killing him would be the greatest feeling on the planet, it would be transcendent"
"Yeah I can tell, but we need to keep him alive if we can ever hope on getting him back on our side. He was our dearest friend once and he can be again, we just have to make it happen"
"I know, but won't be as easy as last time, no where near as easy"
"Yeah, I feel it too, but it is one of those things we just have to try and see how it turns out"
Aerion was close enough to them to tell that they were speaking about an intense subject, but far enough away to not be able to make out any of the words between them. He let them talk for a minute before he interrupted them with his usual provoking style. "Are you ladies finished gossiping about which guy you think is the hottest, or do you hens still need a few moments amongst yourselves"
"Let's do this thing." Torsaine said as he extended his hand towards Kyadus.
"Damn right." Kyadus whispered as he quickly took the shake and then turned to face Aerion. "Hell yeah we're finished!" Kyadus screamed as he ran forward and vaulted over a small pile of dead bodies. He did this with such intensity and speed that he was able to catch Aerion off guard and hit him square in the chest with his flying scissor kick. Once the kick had squarely landed, Kyadus pushed himself off of Aerion and kicked him under the chin as he executed a back flip. All of this happened in a matter of three or four seconds, and it left Aerion with little time to act or even react.
Torsaine was on the move just a second after Kyadus took flight, but that was a big enough difference for him to arrive as Aerion was still in the air waiting to hit the deck and Kyadus was landing in a low crouch.
Aerion was pretty rattled by what had just happened but the pain was only minimal. He had a much higher pain tolerance level than he did in his old life thanks to his brilliant iron gauntlet. When his body would normally feel pain the gauntlet would absorb about 95 of his pain and convert it into raw energy, that he could use later to devastate those same enemies, so he knew it would take a hell of a lot more than just some fancy martial arts moves from his opponents to disable him. As he flew back from the force of the kick he threw his arms out and managed to pull of a back handspring and land in a basic warrior stance.
Torsaine never stopped running at Aerion and was surprised when Aerion landed in the basic warrior stance and performed a hip throw on him with such speed and power. Since Torsaine had been running and Aerion had much more power than normal Torsaine flew for a good fifteen feet before he slammed into the back of a Mozahki Empire soldier and sent them both sprawling across the land.
"Holy shit!" Kyadus shouted. "That was impressive"
Aerion stood up and rushed at Aerion as he was still speak. Kyadus was prepared for this and he threw himself forward and hit the deck as Aerion's legs were rushing over him. He flung his legs up in time to catch Aerion in the chest and threw him back a few feet. Kyadus jumped to his feet and stalked over to Aerion very slowly so he could distract him as Torsaine snuck up on him from behind.
Aerion began charging his iron gauntlet for one bone to take out Kyadus once and for all, but before he could launch it Torsaine had taken a decent sized rock from the ground and smashed it into the back of Aerion's head. He felt the warm blood slowly ooze out from the wound on the back of his head and then his world dissolved into a bleak darkness.
Kyadus watched Aerion slump to the ground, as lifeless as any rag doll sitting on a dusty shelf, and checked for breath and a pulse. When neither of those signs of life were detected Kyadus let out a long sigh and stood up. "We lost him. Aerion is no longer of this world, again, and hopefully for the last time"
"These are truly tragic times." Torsaine added. "We have lost the most interesting partner, enemy, friend, unstable creepy guy we know. We are very unlucky now that we can say we have watched our best friend die in front of twice, and one of those times we were the ones who killed him"
"Yeah," Kyadus replied, "but at least we didn't have the misfortune of having to be the one to go through all of that, all we had to do was watch the show, we didn't actually have to give the performance"
"Now I feel kind of sad for the poor guy. He had so many things happen to him that were cruel and unnecessary, but at least his suffering is over"
"Should we do the right things and give him an honorable burial?" Torsaine asked, still feeling camaraderie with his fallen brother.
"I am going to say no," Kyadus replied. "He is gone, he means nothing to us now"
"That is a very harsh statement," Torsaine said, "but it is a true one"
About this time everyone from both sides of the fight noticed that Kyadus and Torsaine were just standing around and that they were left open and vulnerable to attack.
The Mozahki Empire soldiers pushed towards them from the west, filled with rage over their fallen hero and were determined to cut down these two men who were responsible.
On the other hand the Chaos Triad soldiers were motivated by a great sense of pride at their leader, and were hell-bent on protecting them against all enemy assaults until they were ready to fight back for themselves.
The entirety of both of the armies closed in around Kyadus and Torsaine and they were surrounded by a few hundred soldiers. Lucky for them the Chaos Triad soldiers arrived no more than three seconds before the Mozahki Empire and were able to give them enough time to reequip for the fight before they would have been killed.
Both Kyadus and Torsaine instinctively pulled out the enchanted swords and went to work with exceptional speed and grace against these inferior fighters. They just chopped and hacked and stabbed their way through the fray as their soldiers behind them laid down suppressive fire to the outer flanks and lobbed grenades towards the rear while the MECHS engaged the building and any targets leaving it, they really made a mess of things. In just a few minutes the Mozahki Empire was down the their last fifty soldiers while the Chaos Triad was still going strong at roughly eighty five, not including the personnel in the MECHS and tanks, and the prison building was completely leveled with no other prisoners left alive.
Kyadus gave the signal to his troops for a hasty retreat. They all passed the signal and on his count they all rushed away with some facing the enemy for cover fire. The Mozahki Empire had been slowly pushed back and it took them a few seconds to realize they needed to move forward, but that was just enough time.
All the remaining MECHS had pushed in around the rear of the Chaos Triad formation, and soon as all the soldiers had cleared the danger area the MECHS let loose whatever rockets and ammunition they had left into the Mozahki Empires meager force, and killed every single one of them in an incredible ball of fire that made the sun look like a dim light bulb for just a second or two.
When all was quiet and the smoke had died down all that was left was little hunks of meat and metal inside a rather large flaming crater. The Chaos Triad soldiers walked up to the gaping inferno pit and began to cheer for this fantastic victory in the first battle of the war.
Kyadus was standing at the very front with Torsaine by his side, admiring the swift end they had brought to the soldiers of the Mozahki Empire. After he quieted down everyone he said, "This has been a great day for the cause and you should all be proud of yourselves. We have won the first battle in a war that will decide the fate of all mankind. No war has ever been fought with stakes this high and we are on the road to victory. Let me be the first to say, even though we are victorious today we can not afford to let it go to our heads, nor can we afford to let our guard down for even a second. We have to be ready for any fight that could happen at any time. Today is done and already a part of the history books, but we have a long road ahead of us. We need to get more troops to fight for us, so this is what I propose. The rest of you will go back to your homes and call everyone you know to see if the will help. Then ask them to call everyone they know, and so on. This should bring us a good sized group, but we need a massive force to drive us, so that is where Torsaine and I come in. We will go in secret to all the major cities across the country and we will recruit anyone who is willing. Now I don't care who does it, but one of you needs to take charge and set up meetings once a day to keep up communications and to mark everyone's progress. Who will step forward"
A few minutes passed by in silence before a well built man of about thirty moved his way through the crowd and said, "I guess I'll do it"
"Very good, sir. What is your name"
"My name is Mark Prescott"
"Well Mark, I'm going to need to come with me for a little while, the rest of you can go home, but be sure to be at Sortami's house by eight o'clock sharp with all the information you gather ready to be presented. For those of you in the MECHS and tanks, just return them to Tolsmyre and then you can go home too. Make it happen"
The group broke up and everyone went their separate ways, leaving Kyadus, Torsaine, and Mark all alone on this scarred and bloody battlefield.
Mark walked up to Kyadus' side and asked, "Since the Chaos Triad started off as having three leaders, and is meant to have three leaders, and there are only two right now, can I be the third"
Kyadus reared back and punched Mark as hard as he could in the chest, which knocked the wind out of him and sent him sprawling to the ground. Kyadus lowered his fisted arm and said, "How dare you even ask me such a thing. The Chaos Triad had three founders, and Aerion was, and will always be the third, even if he is dead. I would rather die than let the memory of him be desecrated by you or any other. Never bring this up again and I will let you live, and I am being damn serious"
Mark almost passed out from the force of the blow, but he managed to hold on to consciousness while Kyadus made his speech. As soon as Kyadus was done Mark struggled to his feet and said, "My humblest apologies. I will never let that happen again"
"Damn right you won't." Kyadus said. "Now let's get a move on."