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Later that night, Kain figured he had played the part as prisoner long enough and decided to take matters into his own hands. With the exception of a few resistance fighters standing watch over the camp, everyone else was asleep. The only problem was that Kain needed to find either his longsword or his lance, preferably both in the best of situations. Kain scanned the makings of the camp with the campfire itself being the only source of light and it was dim at that. The famed knight noticed out of the corner of his eye two guards trying lift up some odd shaped objects.


As he walked closer to the resistance members, Kain immediately became infuriated at the fact that they were trying to lift up his weapons. When Kain got within earshot of the two men, he spoke in a tone that had cruel intentions written all over it, saying, "Do you two wish to witness first hand, the wrath of the Dragon of Lodis?". They both turned and looked at him with utter confusion as to why he was awake and why he had just threatened them from out of the blue. Struggling greatly, each resistance fighter picked up one of Kain's prized weapons and rushed towards the enraged knight of Lodis.


Although still having his hands binded by rope, Kain charged after the fighter wielding his lance and landed a double axe-handle fist into his sterdum. The fighter immediately hunched over with the wind knocked out of him and the possibility of having a few cracked upper ribs. Meanwhile the rebel wielding Kain's longsword attempted an overhead strike. Kain dodged out of the way, leaving the longsword wielder to inadvertantly behead his own ally. Blood spewed onto the ground as Kain rushed to cut himself loose from the bindings around his wrists before the other resistance fighter could attack again. By the time the remaining resistance fighter made his second attack, Kain had cut through half of the rope that held his hands together. It was evident that the rebel fighter had very little experiance in combat as he attempted the same attack once again. Kain used this opportunity to his advantage by staying for enough to avoid being sliced in half but yet within range of getting the rest of the rope cut by sticking his arms out into harms way. The result of the rebel's attack not only ensured his imminent death but also unleashed the terror known as the Dragon of Lodis. In one swift motion, Kain grabbed his lance and spun himself around while twirling his weapon towards his foe's heart and thrusting it through. The rebel gave a loud cry of pain and with his last breath called for help.


Kain reached for his longsword after putting his lance on his back. At this point, he went on a rampage slaughtering his captors with relative ease. Resistance fighters that were awake were dispatched of quickly while others only discovered their fates while in slumber. Kain knew full well that even with as many as he had killed; he was far too fatigued from his travels earlier in the day to lay the rest of the resistance to their graves despite his urge to do so. The dark blue armoured knight quickly ran to where the horses were kept and sent all but one free. The one he had stay behind was for him to make his escape. The remnants of the Hiathan resistance began firing arrows towards Kain as he sped off towards the kingdom of Latium. Arrows whizzed by Kain, some missing by grand margins while others coming within a strand of hair's width from touching him. Shortly thereafter, Kain felt a sharp stinging sensation penetrate into the left side of his upper back. The reknowned knight acknowledged the fact he had been struck by an arrow but he didn't have the strength required to do anything about it. Exhaustion along with injuries had finally taken its toll on the Dragon of Lodis as he blacked out while still mounted onto the horse and soon fell onto the ground below face first into the dirt.

(in a near futile attempt to keep progress going... *inserts random assassin character from no where* after this post you can control him Crimson, consider it a gift, or kill him off, up to you)


A hand slipped out from under the bed, and a small shuriken pinned said string to the wall allowing the knife to fall to the floor at Anatsu's feet. A body emerged shortly after. "Ah, the trials of a rogue home... so fun. Anatsu, I assume. The name is Jingen, at your service. The king sent me to meet you, you were gone when I arrived here. I was beginning to wonder if I had found the right house until I stumbled upon your little traps." His figured nearly invisble beneath his black cloak. "Shall we go, or do you need more time to prepare?"

Just as Kain had finished his last sentence, the sky grew brighter. A single beam of light pierced the sky and shined down upon him. Time itself stood still as a silhouette appeared at the source of the light.

It descended through a flock of birds frozen in time and four distinct wings spread open. The creature perched it's nude, un-anatomical figure on a semi-translucent rock that emerged like a ghost from the ground before the dragon-knight.


"Kain, my child. It is I, the great Lodis."

"Indeed you are. You are one of my best soldiers. And seeing as you are about to engage one of the first great battles of this holy crusade... I am here to grant you my blessing. Your wounds are healed, and your weapon and armor strengthened some.

You will encounter a being of great strength and one of great skill in the near future... prepare yourself. And worry not for the men you are about to lose, they will rest easy in my kingdom."

Lodis spoke from his non-existent mouth, as if through telepathy of some sort. His holiness washing warmth over the knights body as he healed. "Good luck, my child."

(I've forgotten the actual time, so I will just say its early morning)

Lodis spread his great four wings once more and rose high into the heavens from whence he came. The beam of light dissipated and time unfroze itself.


Lodis floated back to his great throne. "Mortals... so foolish. A little light show and they are all "my lord this, my lord that... bah! I shall erase that from them soon enough. My crusade must be complete first. Even if I have to do it myself." He mumbled as he seated himself amongst his Angelarium.



Chloe stood in the doorway, slightly silhouetted by the rising sun. Her sword sheathed in one hand, and the door frame in the other as she looked back to her friend. The call had been made alerting the citizens of the troops forming rank outside. Chloe was ready to prove her worth. "I'll be back by sun down... bearing the heads of my enemies..."

Maya smiled half-heartedly. "Please don't bring them in here, I just cleaned the house yesterday..." She had given up trying to stop her friend. She would just have to stay and protect Karyn in case of a break in the defense allowing a few units inside. "Good Luck"

Chloe nodded as she headed out, starting a slight jog towards the city gates where the militia was forming. The kingdom's army would not be seen until true war broke out in hopes of gaining the upper hand with the element of surprise. She had a great chance to shine in this battle.

The militia of Latium was forming just inside the gates, invisible to the incoming force. They were lead by a single member of the Imperial Knights, he readied his mount as he scanned over the lot. A look of disgust washed over his face, he felt like he was the only one there that would live through the fight.
"Archers! Ready your arrows! We will open the gates and charge shortly after the volley! I want this to be quick, and with as little casualty as possible. NO QUARTER!"

Chloe shrugged him off, he was just going to have to wait in line after she got done laying waist to this entire unit heading towards them. She'd rend them asunder and come home drinking from her opponents skulls if she had to. This was the first of many tests she had to pass to achieve her dream.


Maya sighed again as she returned upstairs to her room. Karyn was busy studying in hers, and the town was relatively quiet. Not many were worried about such a small force, except for those that realised that this wasn't even a small fraction of what Lodis would bring to them in the months to come. This battle was simply a test, a reconnaissance mission to see what Latium had to offer. The king was wise to send such a small seemingly untrained force to greet them. Their ranks were of veterans though. Almost everyone of them had fought against the waves of beasts that scoured the kingdom a few years back. Even Maya herself had took her place in that battle. That was when she earned her scar, her eternal mark of just how she defied Azreal, the great angel of death. Although the sun was nearly up now, and the day was relatively nice, Maya saw nothing but dark skies ahead as she gazed out her window. She silently wondered if she would have to fight, and if so just how well would she perform? It had been far too long since she had even trained with her sword. She walked to her display cabinet that contained her weapon. She kept it sharpened just right, and very clean incase it would be needed. She watched the reflection of her eyes as she pulled it from its display mount. The blade shimmered with radiant glory. This blade had never taken a human life, but has slain many a beast. Maya knew she would soon have to let it taste human blood, if only to defend herself or her family, or even her kingdom.



The Imperial made his way to the front of his troops, stopping just in front of Chloe and turning to face them all. "ON MY SIGNAL ARCHERS!" He raised his hand to prepare the signal. The archers all raised their bows and docked their arrows, pulling them back about half pull, allowing them to hold and still take aim once their targets were in sight. The knight signaled for the gates to open, and they did so, slowly. As Kain's unit became more visible, the archers raised their bows higher and pulled fully back as hard as they could. They were in range, but not a comfortable one. "FIRE AT WILL!" The knight dropped his arm down. The archers paused momentarily trying to adjust their aim just right, before letting their volley fly.

The archers numbered around 50, each reloading with blazing speed and firing off another round with incredible delivery. All 100 arrows blazing down right at the Dragon's unit. The knight decided to wait until the volley finished before making his charge. His ground unit consisted of about 15 men, and with the archers dropping their bows and drawing their long swords brought the unit to about 65 strong. A very small unit compared to their full army, but plenty for the number they were against.

Chloe took the opportunity of the flying lance as a chance to show her support for her fellow soldiers and quickly drew her sword and lashing out at it. The lance slid off the blade, over the Knights head and impaled one of the archers that was still holding his bow. She winced as she spun around to the other side of the Knights horse. A blade had caught her should just slightly. "b*****d!" She responded by whipping the blade at his neck.

A lone soldier had raced ahead and unfortunately met with the swing of Kain's sword and sprayed unto him like a bloody fountain. A few men hung back and reloaded their bows and took aim and let go about 6 more arrows into the charging force that was beginning to wipe out some of the weaker fighters up front.

Chloe spun and stabbed through another Lodis soldier as she wiped the blood from her face from her previous kill. She gazed over and her eyes met with the Dragon's. Hmm... the enemy's general.. doesn't look so tough... She pulled her blade from the fallen foe and leapt to the air raising her blade high and swinging down at Kain as he made his approach towards the Imperial.

The rest of the Latium unit was not faring too well. They had lost a significant amount already. Their numbers were beginning to dwindle down to around 30.