Solarian - Soulfire - Chapter 1
Solarian
Soulfire
Chapter One.
To see one of them, was rare enough. Many had gone their whole lives without ever seeing one, while some were lucky to catch nothing more then a glimpse at times. But to see three of them, was nothing short of a miracle.
The three woman seemed to emerge from the softly blowing snow without warning. They walked slow, but seemed to gain much ground without trying. The soldiers at the gates could do nothing more then stare as the three women approached silently, and powerfully.
The middle one seemed to be in charge, but that was only the assumption of the soldiers standing around the enormous gates. The three women were dressed in softly coloured leathers from neck to foot. Their clothing was tight, but not erotically so. Hooded capes swirled around them as they walked, the material so light it seemed to flutter even without a breeze.
The one in the middle wore clothing of a dark purple, her cape lighter then the leather. The one of the left wore two shades of cream, and the one of the right wore two shades of mauve. Their clothes were perfectly clean, their capes without smears. The soldiers felt suddenly dirty from their standing in the falling snow all morning.
And following behind them came their protectors. Three very tall and powerfully built leonine figures, each wearing the same dark pants and black leather harnesses that seemed to caress their powerfully built torsos. On their backs each carried what looked like a blood red staff. They were not smiling.
"Mistress" one of the soldiers said as he knelt down in front of them. The three dozen soldiers around him all knelt down on their knees as the women stopped before them. He looked up slowly to the woman in the middle, the one with the butterfly mask on her face. "We did not know you were coming."
She nodded slowly as the two on either side of her looked over the scenario in front of them.
"We have come because this city has fallen silent" she said softly, her voice very clear behind the mask. She allowed him to stare, to see the beautiful design across the eyes of the mask, but even if he tried, he would not have seen the eyes behind it. "What can you tell me that has happened here?" she asked.
"Mistress, by coming here, it means you have some idea yourself" he said as he stood up, the other soldiers following suite.
"I have ideas on what happened" she said calmly, without reprimand. "But it would do good to hear it from you" she added. "I wish to know what you know, even if I know it myself" she said.
"The city cut all communication five days ago" he said as he turned and indicated the enormous gates. "No pigeons, no couriers, no mail. Nothing but silence for five days. Our neighbouring Lord asked us to scout the area and find what happened" he said to her.
The woman in purple moved her head as she looked around, seeing the ten foot high wall stretch up above them and off in the directions beside her. Her two companions moved in their own directions, seeming to find something of interest on their own. The three towering guardians, the Leokai, simply stood back and watched.
"And what did you find?" she asked him as she looked back to him.
"The gates were sealed. We have already scouted the walls. There is no breach, no hole. No way over, no way under. The city has been sealed, and our cries to the inside have not been returned" he said as he moved his gaze over the gates. "It's like the city is literally silent."
"What is your name?" she asked him.
"Captain Anderson. Caption Vito Anderson" he said as he snapped to attention, hitting his fist against the plated mail over his heart as he bowed his head. "At your service" he finished.
"I am Pandora" she said to him with a nod of her head as she removed the hood of her cape and swept it backwards. Anderson watched as her long loose hair fell down her shoulders from being released from its confines.
"And which of Lordells neighbouring kingdoms has called you here today?" Pandora asked him as she stood with the captain.
"Lord Galen has requested it, from Krindar" he said. She nodded to him after a brief silence, and did not ask for any more information as she studied the gates in front of her.
"Carrie" Pandora called out to the woman in cream, who had been studying the ground in front of the gates. "What have you found?" she asked.
Carrie stood up and removed her hood, her soft curling brown hair fell around her shoulders. She turned to Pandora as she indicated the ground.
"The snow has covered everything, but there are no clear indications that anything resembling an attack force has entered. I'm guessing any tracks that were here before the snow settled in were from the daily traffic in and out." she said in her soft voice.
"So, nothing would have gone in since the city sealed itself?" Anderson asked, sounding surprised. For a city to fall silent, the soldiers had only drawn up the conclusion that the city had been attacked.
"Melody" Pandora said as she looked to her right, to where the third woman was standing on the right side of the gate. "What have you found?" Pandora asked.
"The gate has been sealed, as it was intended to do" Melody said as she placed a bare hand on the gate. "From the inside" she finished.
"How can you tell it was closed five days ago?" Anderson asked her, as he felt left out that he and his men had failed to find the information itself.
"Five days ago was when this city was attacked" Melody said as she walked to the middle of the gates. "As you mentioned before, the city has been silent for five days. It makes sense it was attacked five days ago" she concluded.
"Tarn" Pandora said as she turned to the three silent guardians.
"Yes mistress" the one in the middle, Tarn, said as he unfolded his arms. With a glance, the two Leokai beside followed him to the towering gates. Anderson and his men watched as the three towering males walked up the gates and stood beside the left gate.
Tarn removed the staff from his back and slide it into the small gap between the gates. He slowly slid the staff upwards, and after a few moments, there was a rather unsettling noise, which sounded like a garbled scream of agony that was briefly heard.
"What did he just do?" one of the soldiers asked, after he and the rest of the men had flinched from the sound.
"I unlocked it" Tarn said simply as he placed the staff back on its holster as he and the other two Leokai pressed their hands against the gate and began to push.
Pandora and the other two women stood by and waited as their guardians used their strength to force the gate open. The huge gate slowly swung inwards, a flat bed of snow left in its wake as they forced the gate open enough to allow them access.
Lordells main street was silent. There was not a single sound or disturbance in the air. The snow had fallen over the main street, carpeting it with a thick blanket of pure white. The buildings along the street were covered as well, giving the place an undisturbed feel.
And so were the citizens.
"By the gods, what has happened here?" Cream said as she gazed around. Pandora and Melody fell into a silence as well as they saw what caught their breath. Even Tarn and his companions were somewhat taken aback.
The citizens dotted the streets like statues, and for several moments, those present thought they were. But the people were black, like burnt stone. The snow that dusted on top of them suggested that they had been like that for several days, maybe even more.
"What happened to these people?" Pandora wondered as they began to walk up the silent street, the soldiers following behind them. They walked slowly up the street, their feet leaving deep footprints in the piling snow.
"We know they're not living anymore" Melody said as she walked up slowly a nearby standing male. He was holding onto a small girls hand, a father leading his daughter across the road. Both of them were pitch black and dusted with snow, two perfect statues in the snow covered street.
Melody gently reached forward with a finger and brushed the mans cheek. She gasped as that simple touch broke his features. The side of his face fell like ashes, flesh, muscle, even bone shattered and powdered a pitch black against the snow.
"They were burned?" Anderson in horror as everyone witnessed the shocking result. Melody drew her hand back, and it brushed slightly against his arm. The blackened arm broke, taking the little girls arm and half her shoulder onto the snow, a black splatter of ashes all that remained of their limbs.
"Burned through and through" Melody said, having to catch her breath again after seeing something like that.
"What could have done this?" one of the Leokai asked as he walked up to her. "Magic perhaps?"
"It must have been powerful magic to do something like this to a person, Olahn" Melody said as she felt him touch her shoulder so gently.
"It was a specific magic, it must have been" Pandora said as she crossed the street to look into the window of a shop. She peered through the window and saw the store keeper behind his counter, handing a package to an elderly looking woman. Both of them were pitch black, a perfectly burned and preserved moment.
"What do you mean a specific magic?" one of the soldiers asked, the men suddenly looking nervous at the mention of the art.
"Look at this" Pandora said as she gestured her hand over the shop. "Look everywhere" she said. "This shop is not burnt. The street has not been touched. Nothing around us has been burnt, but the people have been" she said.
The gazes of everyone there looked around at the street, their eyes sweeping up and down as they looked to see what she was talking about.
"Whatever magic this was, it's targeted the people. Nothing else has been touched" Pandora said as she strode through the snow. Tarn was right behind her as she walked up to a burnt statue of another male. The statue was of a large, towering orc carrying a spade over his shoulder. The orcs normally dark green skin was as black as the metal he was carrying. Pandora placed a hand on the torso and pushed, his body crumbling and falling to the ground like a mound of black sand that had been pushed over.
"What the..." Anderson said as he saw the display. But the other woman and their guardians did not look shocked at how Pandora treated the victim. They were more shocked of the fact that the man had been burned through to his core.
"Look at this" Pandora said, her voice raising although it was still calm. "Burnt through and through. His bones have been burned to nothing. Even the metal has been burnt to ashes. No normal fire, even magic fire, can burn a city full of people and burn only the people to degrees such as this" she said.
"And not one of these people look like they were aware it had happened" the remaining Leokai said as he stood next to Carrie, a hand on her shoulder as well.
"If they had seen this coming, they would have been caught running" Tarn said in agreement. "But they didn't. They were burned in place, by surprise" he added. He looked over at the Leokai next to Carrie. "What do you think?" he asked.
Ansen didn't say anything, but he removed the staff from his back and held it at the ready. The other two Leokai nodded and removed their staffs as well. Anderson and his men nodded and drew their swords from their sheathes.
"You think they're still here? Whoever did this?" Anderson asked, his men giving cautionary looks about the place, as if whatever mage or wizard who had done this were waiting in the shadows around them.
"Let's head to the city leaders home" Pandora suggested as she indicated along the street. "We do need to check" she added.
"Who was the leader here?" Tarn asked her as he gave a sideways glance to Anderson and his men.
"The orc, Lady Kardash" Melody said as she walked over to join them. Carrie did as well, Pandora noticing that their hands were at the handles of their daggers that lay at their hips.
"Of course" Pandora said, before she turned to Anderson.
"Tell me, Captain" she said as she turned to the soldiers standing before them. "You said Lord Galen had sent your squad over to investigate what had happened?" she asked.
"Of course mistress" he said to her as he looked at her. "He was quite concerned about the cities safety, especially since he had lost contact with the good Lady" he said.
"We stopped at Lord Galens city of Krindar" Pandora said as she placed a hand on one of the daggers at her waist.
"You did?" Anderson said as he squeezed the handle of his sword.
"Indeed" Tarn said as he and the other two Leokai held their staffs at the ready.
"Lord Galen hates her. He hasn't spoken to her in six months, and even then it was to trade insults" Pandora said a she slowly drew her dagger. "But what is interesting, is that he never mentioned a squad being sent ahead of us" she said as she spun the dagger in her hand, grasping the handle easily. "And I met his captain of the guard there. His captain is Captain Benjamin Sydney" she said.
For a moment, there was silence in the street once more as the two groups faced each other with their weapons drawn.
"So where does this leave us?" Pandora asked the now silent group of men.
Then Anderson raised his sword into the air.
"Death to the Solarians" he shouted into the air as his men shouted in unison as they roared, raising their swords as well before they charged through the snow laden streets.
The three Leokai roared right back as they met the soldiers charge, running ahead of the women as they too drew their daggers and charged into the fight.
The soldiers at the front were met by the Leokais staffs. The end of Tarns staff slammed into the unprotected throat of a Soldier, and a horrible scream emitted from the blood red weapon. The soldier let out a garbled cry as the weapon screamed. Tarn twisted it against the mans throat, and he fell like a sack of grain onto the ground.
Two more soldiers fell to the same fate of the other Leokais weapons, two more hideous screams echoing into the air as the soldiers they killed fell to the ground. More soldiers ran into the fray and began to swing their swords at the Leokai. The staffs whirled through the air as they met with the mens swords to deflect the blows.
Several soldiers flew past the battling Leokai to attack at the women, thinking they would be an easier target. But the females were expert fighters in the style of the Rogue, and could bring the fight straight back at them.
Carrie brought one of her daggers up, catching a descending blow from a soldier and drove her second blade up under his chest plate, sliding the blade easily under his ribcage. The man crumbled with a cry as Carrie brought her dagger down and sliced it across his throat, painting a crimson steak over the snow.
Melody struck a soldiers sword and parried it to the left, moving a step to the right to bring herself against his side and brought both her daggers up and plunged the twin blades into his exposed neck. The mans cry was cut out as she spread her hands wide, slicing his neck open with ease.
Pandora brought bother her daggers up and used them to block a soldiers blow that was aiming to take her down from above. She brought her knee up hard and slammed it between his legs, the man gasping out as pain rocketed through his body. Pandora withdrew a blade and pulled her arm back, before slamming the blade between his bulging eyes. With a cry she pulled her blade out of his head, a spurt of blood erupting against her as she turned to the next soldier.
The Leokai had already dispatched several of the soldiers, the ground littered with the bodies of men dead from the screaming staffs. Tarn saw an opening after dragging the end of his staff against a mans face, the staff screaming along with the man as the weapon dragged across his features. His face erupted with blood filled pustules and blisters, before they burst in a shower of blood and he fell dead to his knees.
Tarn saw Anderson had not moved from where he had shouted the beginning, his path blocked by three more charging men. Tarn slammed his staff into the stomach of a man, a bloodied cry echoing out of the mans throat as the weapon screamed. Tarn brushed him aside and brought a fist back, punching it into the second oncoming man. Teeth and nose cartilage broke and blood covered his hand as he gripped his staff and brought it up to deflect the third mans sword as it was swung around. Tarn brought his staff up to deflect the blow and the sword slammed into the weapon. Tarn pushed and parried the blow as he swung his staff, catching the mans head.
After knocking him to the ground, Tarn roared at Anderson and charged, his staff clutched firmly in one hand as he ran his way through over the bodies of the fallen soldiers. He brought his staff up, seeing Anderson not raising his blade to defend himself.
Pandora sliced her dagger into a mans throat, cutting a scream in half as his throat erupted in a spray of blood. She kicked his chest and pushed him onto the ground, small rivers of red running down the wings of her mask as she brought her gaze up, in time to see Tarns fate.
Anderson brought his hands up, his sword falling into the snow at his feet as his fists erupted in the darkest flames Pandora had ever seen. Tarn saw the burning fists of flame, but was unable to stop his charge as Anderson aimed his hands at the charging Leokai.
Twin streaks of flames erupted in the air and poured like rivers at the roaring Leokai. Tarns roar was cut off under the roar of the flames that engulfed his body. Pandora let out a scream as she watched her guardian become enveloped in the darkest flames, his body trapped in the vortex.
Anderson grinned wickedly as the flames died down and the leokai stood still on a patch of blackened stone. His body reduced to nothing but a black statue of ash, his body and weapon burned through to the core.
Pandora felt a twinge of fear coarse through her veins as she stood still. Time seemed to slow in that moment. Tarn was dead, burned through by a magic she had never seen before. He had stood no chance.
"Pandora" Carrie cried out as she slammed her dagger into a mans chest, crying out to Pandora. Pandora snapped out of her momentary spell in time to see another soldier charge at her. Pandoras blades whirled in fury as she sliced upwards, stabbing the man in the stomach and slicing through his neck with the other.
Tarns body exploded as a dark fireball ripped it apart, scattering a cloud of the leokais ashes into the air. The fireball flew through the cloud before it slammed into one of the few remaining soldiers still alive. His eyes bulged and a cry was choked in his throat as a burning hole was ripped open in his chest. Even his armour exploded forwards as a second cloud of black ash exploded into the air, his entire chest nothing more than a hole in his body before his lifeless corpse fell to the ground.
Pandora watched with a sickening feeling within her as the fire continued to burn, leaving the corpse of the soldier nothing but a dead statue of black ash lying across the snow.
Anderson grinned as he advanced forwards. He held his flame bound hands up, and with every step forward, he thrust a hand forward and sent a fireball at a blackened figure. Cloud after cloud of black ash arose into the air as he began to laugh. His laughter rang through the air as his power burned through him.
The last of the soldiers fell with a choked scream as a blood red staff was removed from his stomach, his dead body falling face first into the snow as the two remaining leokai and the three women turned to face the oncoming Anderson.
"Olahn, Ansen, step back" Pandora ordered. The two leokai did not remove their glares from the slowly advancing Anderson, but they did lower their staffs. Melody and Carrie both kept their daggers drawn as they went to stand next to their guardians.
"Anderson, answer me one thing before I declare sentence on you" Pandora said as she slid her daggers easily into their hilts. Anderson stopped his advance, only a short distance on the black streaked snow from her.
"This city, it is obvious you are the one behind the mass murder of its citizens" Pandora said, her eyes behind the mask never once leaving his face. "Why did you do it?" she asked him, as she held her hands against her sides. The others behind her could see her fingers slowly moving in small circles, and the air around her hands seemed to shimmer. They knew what was coming.
"For practice" Anderson said with a wicked grin. "And now you will die as well, Solorian bitches" he said. He drew up a hand and the flames burned darker as they seemed to spread like oil through the air.
The flames surrounded him like a burning mist, whirling around him as he drew his power larger. Ansen and Olahn both stood in front of the two women in preparation for what was happening. The snow on the ground began to sizzle and boil, before evaporating, the paved street underneath turning black as it was exposed. The stonework began to rise up as blackened ashes that were blown away by the pure heat the fires were creating.
Pandora said nothing, but remained still as she watched the flames spread and began to touch the buildings on either side of the street. The buildings began to blacken and burn away as the fires licked death at the wood and stone.
Anderson was still laughing even as he saw Pandora throw her hand in front of herself and the air shimmered in front of her hand as a long pointed dark purple crystal appeared like a spear in her fingers. She drew her arm back and threw the crystal spear towards the centre of the burning fire. Another appeared in her opposite hand and she threw it forward as yet another appeared again.
He saw the spear flying towards him, and he managed to turn his body to the side to avoid the oncoming weapon. But when he turned back, the second spear slammed into his shoulder, piercing through the armour like it was cheese, and coming through the other side of his shoulder. He screamed out in pain as he brought his hand up to try to pull it out, as another spear slammed into his leg.
He fell back as the spear pinned itself into his leg. The flames around him began to die out as his attention was focused on the searing pain of his attacked body. A third spear embedded itself into his stomach and made him slide back against the blackened ground.
Pandora sent a final spear towards him for good measure, sending it flying through the floating ash in the air before it speared into the centre of his chest. He staggered back, his mouth agape with disbelief that he was speared so easily. The flames in the air died out and only black ash floated in the snowy air, mixing black and white together as for a few moments as silence rang briefly in the air.
Anderson gaped in disbelief at the spears penetrating his body, unable to form words in his throat from shock. His eyes grew wider as he fell to his knees as they gave way underneath him, his arms falling to his sides.
"What the..." Pandora said as she saw something begin to ooze around the crystal spears lodged in the mans body. It looked like he was bleeding, but the blood was pitch black. And it shone, like a mirrored surface as it coursed out of the wounds and began to drip on the ground.
And then she noticed that Andersons body was smoking. Tendrils and wisps of smoke began to creep out from under the mans armour, and through his clothing. Anderson choked and his eyes were wide as smoke flowed out of his mouth and his nose as his skin began to redden. Sweat poured from under his hair and out of his skin, but that began to sizzle and boil like water on hot coals.
"What's happening?" Melody asked as she stepped out from beside her guardian. "What's happening to him?"
As his skin burned to a dark and angry red that covered his body, his armour began to blacken as the smoke on his body grew. The black substance running out of his body began to bubble on the crystal spears and on the ground as it dripped under him.
And then, his body erupted in an outward explosion of flames. His flesh and armour turned into the ash cloud of his victims, never giving him a chance to cry out as his body turned into an explosion of the darkest flames.
Pandora threw herself on the ground, the only move she thought she could do as the dark flames roared inches away from her body. The sound of something large and heavy passed over her as she heard screams from the others.
She held herself down on the ground for several moments before she pulled herself up. Black snow was all around her. She looked towards the spot where Anderson had been only a few moments ago, and only saw a blackened hole in the ground, pitch blackened ashes falling silently onto her and around her.
The sound of crying behind her made her turn around. Carrie was standing over the dead form of Melody, crying as she was held in Ansens arms. Melody lay spread out on the ground, shards of blackened crystal embedded throughout her body. Olahn was kneeling beside her, his left hand clutching at his right shoulder, a thick piece of blackened crystal poking through his shoulder as his right arm hung uselessly against his side.
Carrie looked up at Pandora, a dark blackened burn across the side of her face.
"We couldn't save her" she said as tears fell down her cheeks.
"We failed her. I failed her" Olahn said as he sank to his knees beside Melodys' silent body.
"We all failed" Pandora said quietly as the black snow fell around them. "But the blame is taken by me. I asked to investigate what happened here."
"This cannot be your fault" Ansen said as he held Carrie against him gently. "We did not expect this to happen."
"But I will take the blame" Pandora said a she knelt beside her fallen comrade. None of them said anything to that, but when Pandora removed a small object from Melodys hand, Carrie protested.
"Pandora, you can't" Carrie said as she knew what Pandora was about to do. The two Leokai said nothing, as it was not their place to judge what was going on.
"I have lost my guardian today" Pandora said as she held the ring in her hand. It looked like a small silver dragon curled into a circle that bit upon its own tail. "And one of our sisters. It is my blame and burden for what has happened. I will find Melodys replacement on my own as punishment" Pandora said.
"But you can't" Carrie protested. But the deed was done. The ring glowed softly as it sensed its owner had passed on, before it grew larger. When it covered Pandoras outstretched hand, the dragon unfurled itself.
With a small yawn and a shaking of its wings, the small silver dragon flew surprisingly quickly into the air, its sole purpose now, was to find the replacement Solarian.