Return to The Blade Temple
November 12th, 2006 by Salem
Chapter 48 – Selene and Salem ride up to the Temple at full speed. Rook and Knight had disappeared from the sky. Darkwind and Syntax run the very familiar cobblestone streets at full speed as the twins held on. Even the horses knew how important it was to get the twins to the temple as fast as possible. They were getting close to the street that heads right to the temple, allowing them to ride at top speed without needing to slow to take a corner. The horses make the last turn and found themselves getting stopped by a large group of people. The monks, teachers and Blade Hopefuls in Training were all gathered near the J.K. Inn. Salem jumped off of Syntax to talk with Tram who was in charge in the twins’ absence. “What happened?” asked Salem. Tram was still trying to catch his breath while the young 7 year old Gabby tried to give him a cup full of water. “The Temple! It was going crazy,” said Tram. “Where are the Blade Animals?” asked Selene still sitting on Darkwind. “They!” Tram took a long breath, “are still inside. I think they were running after an intruder.” Salem looked at Selene. “What did this intruder look like and did they have a Blade?” asked Selene. “I!” gasped Tram, “did not see the intruder myself. Blade Hopeful Eric told me about the intruder,” Tram took another gasp, “He is now missing, but everyone else is here.” At this, Salem jumped back on Syntax. “We will find him,” said Selene. “Get everyone to the dock. The TidusBlade and the YeagerBlade are waiting there.” The large crowd parted to make way for the twins as Tram, still trying to regain his breath, starts to direct the group to the docks. Darkwind and Syntax jumped back into the race to the temple. Everyone in the town of Koror know who the twins are and would normally greet them, however the twins can see the people who live near the temple were busy evacuating with their most cherished possessions.
The twins were eight blocks away from the temple when the sky changed from a clear blue to a frightening red and yellow. The horses stopped once again, but it was out if instinct this time. The twins looked up and saw what they were expecting but never thought they would see it. The smaller of the two suns appeared to be exploding. It was Selene who jumped off of her horse, almost falling off and landing on the ground to her knees. Salem jumped off of Syntax to join her sister. “No!” yelled Selene, her eyes drowning in her tears. “We have to get to the temple, sister,” said Salem, trying hard not to start crying as well. “She is dead. SHE IS DEAD!” yelled Selene, “Terra!” “It hurts me as well, but we made a promise to her to make this last wish. The KingBlade is in the temple. We must get it back,” said Salem. “She was like a mother to us, Salem,” said Selene. “We will mourn her, but right now, she needs us to complete this task,” implored Salem. Selene collapses onto the dirty cobblestone street, crying and grasping at each stone on the ground as she was taken by grief. “I cannot, I cannot go on,” said Selene under her tears. “Sister,” called Salem, holding Selene and trying to pull her up from the ground. Selene shakes. The feeling was overwhelming. Salem brought her sister’s head to her chest and held on tight. The twins sat on the street, alone, as the rest of the town’s population became panicked from what was going on in the sky and ran in all directions, trying in vain to escape the scene.
The Palace of the Hoofar had more security around it than ever before. Not even the religious war eighty-two years ago had as much protection on it as it did now. Hoofar Isis sat alone in her throne room until the silence was broken by a court clerk who pulled open the heavy fabric curtains from the entrance and announced, “Your Majesty, from the country of Lysts, King Abbot.” Abbot entered the large room with Raphael behind him as well as a woman with an arm full of rolled up parchments. “Isis! Very happy you’re able to see me in short notice,” said Abbot. “Why leave your country? Why didn’t you just have your Ambassador from the Lysts Consulate?” asked Hoofar Isis. “Because I feel that this requires a personal touch,” replied the King. “This form of travel does not seem very necessary,” said Isis. “You will change your mind when you can travel from one kingdom to the next in less then six hours,” said King Abbot. The sound of some one running in the hall got louder and louder as they ran into the large room. It was one of the Hoofar’s guards, “Hoofar! You must look outside right away! The Sun god has been angered!” Abbot, Isis and Raphael run to the closest balcony in the palace to see what was happening. The sight had left them speechless. The frightened screams and yelps of Isis’ people could be heard below them. Isis turned to one of the three guards who were posted on the balcony, “Go and have the horns sound. I must address our people before the panic becomes unstoppable.” The guard leaves his post while Isis, Abbot and Raphael start to head down to a different balcony that was better suited to talk to a crowd that will be at the palace soon. “Your Hex Blade twins are responsible for this,” said Isis as they weaved through the long ornate hallways. News of what was going on outside was clearly beginning to spread among the palace servants. “I don’t see how the twins could possibly do anything like that or even why,” said King Abbot. “With the KingBlade missing, whoever has it could be causing the SunBlade to act like that,” said Raphael. “What?! The twins have yet to recover the KingBlade?” yelled Isis, “I thought once they met with Terra, they would have the KingBlade right now.” “I don’t think you realize how hard it is to find an object as small as a crown when it could be anywhere on the planet,” said Abbot. The sound of the great horn on the highest tower could be heard now, calling the people to the Palace. “I’m afraid I’ll have to return to my country,” said King Abbot, “My people will be scared too.” “I understand,” said Hoofar Isis, “I wish you a fast and safe journey home.”
In the Palace City of Lysts, Captain Waller of the P.C.P.D. was at his desk opening a package that had just arrived from Detective Lagan. “I ordered her to return to the department immediately, and she sends me some souvenir from Corsair,” Waller mumbled to himself. He opens the package to find Lagan’s PCPD Detective’s badge and letter of resignation. “That fool of a woman! She’s going after Detective Pacer!” yelled Waller. An officer bursts into Captain Waller’s office, “Sir!” “Haven’t you heard of knocking?!” yelled an already agitated Waller. “Look out the window behind you!” yelled the officer. Waller turned to see that the sky had changed around the smallest sun as the first blast wave leaves it to be followed by another. The Captain accidentally loses control of himself and wets his pants. Determined not to let the officer behind him know what had just happened to him, Captain Waller yells, “Well get out there now and have everyone hit the streets! The city will be going crazy!” “Yes sir!” said the officer. “Well, GO!” barked Waller. The officer left his office leaving Waller to dive into his shelf to retrieve the extra pair of pants he had for such an emergency. The local Church was being packed full of believers, looking for an explanation from the church leaders. The rich and the royals started to retreat to the palace to see the king. The Keeper was busy giving excuses and organizing the arrivals into separate rooms of the palace trying to keep things from getting out of hand.
Selene finally started to get a hold of her emotions and with the help of her sister, she stood up again and shook herself off. “Feel better?” asked Salem. “Yes,” answered Selene, “I had to let that out.” “Now quick, we must get to the Blade Temple,” reminded Salem. The twins quickly mounted their horses again and continued up the now empty street to the temple. They could see the Temple of the Blades now as they closed in. The red energy streams on top of the temple were fluctuating. “Whatever is happening is using a lot of energy,” said Selene. The twins arrive at the gates and pass through at full gallop. The twins had never seen the courtyard this empty, ever. There was no one around. The twins reach the steps to the temple in no time at all. They dismount Darkwind and Syntax and run inside without a word. They reach the top of the stairs when the ground under them shakes, almost knocking them off their feet. Both Salem and Selene make a quick jump and land in a kneeling position. Sections of the walls move in and cut the twins off from the courtyard. “I see,” said Selene. “Whoever has the KingBlade must want us to stay,” said Salem. The twins run into the temple and through the main entranceway that leads to the main temple where the Blades are kept. The twins enter to see an unusual sight. The floor had changed and the area that once had the fake SaintBlade was now a large checkered floor where all the Blade Animals were now sitting. Not only were all the Blade Animals there, but there were two Kings, two Queens, four Knights, Bishops, Rooks, and sixteen Pawns. “Rook?” called Selene. “Pawn?” called Salem. Only the real Pawn and Rook turned their heads but they stayed in place on the checkered floor. There was a black rook with dark gold TalonBlades on its feet along with five black fur Pawns with black metal ThievesBlade masks on. On the other side were two white Rooks with silver TalonBlades on their feet as well as six white fur Pawns with white silver ThievesBlade masks. The same was true for all the other Blade Animals, except for King and Queen. White versions of them on the other side were the only copies.
People were running all around the TidusBlade manually flipping switches and changing around power conduits, trying to transfer as much power as possible to the more important systems on the ship from the emergency battery. The bridge was empty except for Ajax and First year Ensign Stevens. There was only enough power to allow Ajax to monitor the ship’s power flow. Ensign Stevens was sitting at a powerless helm in front of a blank view screen. It was OK with Stevens, he was only there as a policy formality. He was never trained on piloting the TidusBlade. That was an honor for forth year first class Ensigns. Not freshmen 3rd classes like him. He did not even know the first thing to do if the power had been restored to the bridge. Below, Emhril quickly retrieves his EarthBlade from the bashed in and broken main engine. “Mal is waiting for you in the MobilBlade outside!” yelled Dark down to Emhril. “Are you sure?!” asked Emhril, “My Blade!” “The twins need you and Mal, NOW” Yelled Dark, “Go now!” Emhril rushed out of the engine room and headed to the closest access hatch leading outside to the dock.
Captain James Koror and his son, Lieutenant Commander John, show up in the vehicle storage bay. “What have you done to my ship?” yelled James as he walked in. Dark turned from the access hatch she just talked to Emhril through to the angry Captain. David steps forward and says, “Emhril’s sorry about it, there is no!” James pushes David aside and continues to walk to Dark who stands tall in front of him. “Do not do this,” whispered Dark, “We need!” “With all due respect LORD. This is my ship and it has been damaged in a way that strikes too close for comfort for me!” yelled James before stepping around Dark and quickly walks right up to Vivien. “You monster!” James began to yell into Vivien’s surprised face, “They tell me that you could have stopped Emhril’s Blade from rolling over the edge.” “Be fair, James!” yelled Dark, “Only Emhril is able to use his EarthBlade. It is too heavy for her!” “She’s a blood sucking, Gin forsaken, VAMPIRE!” interrupted James as he grabbed Vivien’s right arm and lifts it up in the air, “She can lift a horse with just this arm alone! She could have stopped that Blade! She didn’t even need to lift it!” James turns and places his face so close to the young red head, their noses were almost touching, “You let it fall on purpose. We know about you. You are A SPY for the Master who’s working against the twins!” Vivien shakes her head “No” in fright. “Don’t lie to me! Lord DarkRaptor has already outed you, and I trust her word more than yours!” yelled James as he throws the young vampire on the hard steel floor, “Security, take this monster to the brig!” ordered James. ColdRaptor and PurpleRaptor also ran into the vehicle storage bay with a large group of security guards. Vivien looked around to see that she was surrounded by many angry faces. “Take her by any means!” yelled the Captain. “There’s no need to hurt her,” said Dark, “We have a way to capture her with no one getting hurt.” ColdRaptor stepped up and opened her left arm to reveal a small keypad and screen. Vivien could not hear what Dark was telling James. She was beginning to panic and wanted to run. Vivien had her RPG in her hand but there was no use to try and write out a plea of innocence on it, they probably wouldn’t take the time to read it anyway and the only ones here who understood her sign language were the ones who say she is a spy. David did not want Dark or any of the Raptors to capture her. They would hurt Vivien in the attempt. So he pushed his way through the guards and starts to run to Vivien. “The RPG we gave her has a tazer inside it. It will stop Vivien before she knows what happened” explained Dark, “ColdRaptor is activating it now.” Vivien turns and sees David running to her with his TsunamiBlade. Vivien was panicked already, this just pushed her over the edge. Without thinking, Vivien throws her RPG at David and jumps into the air to try and escape whatever attack he was about to launch. David stops and catches the RPG just as arcs of blue bolts starts to shoot from around it, knocking David unconscious on the floor. “Stop that monster!” yelled James as soon as he realized what happened. Seeing what had just happened to David, all Vivien can think to do was to escape. She had to get out of the TidusBlade and to safety. Vivien takes out her MirrorBlade. “Look out! She’s going to attack!” yelled one of the guards. Security Chef Harke arrives with more guards who draw their musket pistols. Vivien quickly waves her Blade around and disappears. “What happened?” asked Harke. “She cut our view of her,” said Dark. “I see her,” said Cold. Dark did a hand signal and Cold ran out of a door close by. “Where’s she going?” asked James. “Looks like Cold is chasing Vivien into the hallway,” said Dark. “Quick!” ordered James, “Follow ColdRaptor!” The security team exited the storage bay running after Cold while Legs enters. She sees David on the ground and runs to him. “He will be OK,” said Dark, “He just needs to sleep off the shock.”
Vivien flies through an open hatch just as she becomes visible again. The dock was full of people trying to board ships and small boats believing that they would be safe out at sea. “Hey!” yelled a guard standing on the dock, “There she is!” “Shoot her!” yelled another guard. Vivien quickly flies up into the air with musket balls chasing after her. Vivien out flies the small ballistics and vanishes out of sight. James, John and Dark arrive at a porthole to see Vivien escape. “We lost her,” said James hitting his fist on the rim of the porthole. “No we didn’t. She’s gone to look for the twins,” said Dark. She still has to retrieve the SaintBlade for her Master.
A lift door opens in the main bridge and a female crewmember falls out and lays on the floor. Ajax runs to the crewmember to see if she was alright. Another female crewmember jumps out of the lift and kicks Ajax in the face. The first woman gets up and jumps over the security panel to get to the helm. Ensign Stevens jumps up from his seat and pulls out his musket. The blonde woman kicks the weapon out of the young Ensign’s hand. Stevens is able to block the other kick and retaliated with a kick of his own. Ajax grabs the foot of the other woman and throws her face first into one of the control panels. The lift opens again and four more women jump out. Ajax and Ensign Stevens finally get a good look at them and see that they all look like the same woman. “What are you?” asked an astonished Ajax. “We are Arian,” said all six women at the same time before they began to attack again. This time there were three to each of them. Ensign Stevens was easily taken down with a kick to the back of the head. The last thing Stevens saw before blacking out was all six Arians piling on Ajax.