Milan thumps his chest once, twice, thrice. He extends his arms and pulls them in as if he is pulling an invisible rope. Mastigotis and his skeletal horse are the first to begin sliding involuntarily towards Milan.
"Come here my friend, how dare you whip me!" Milan screams out with hysterical laughter.
The strong force of Milan's pull guides Mastigotis off his skeletal horse and straight into his right hand, with Milan's hand strangling his neck, he immediately bends down low and in the blink of an eye smashes Mastigotis into the dirt, causing a plume of red dust to explode outward and coat Milan's boots. The impact is so strong, the ground begins to quake, causing it to shatter and leave a deep silhouette of Mastigotis's armor in it.
Thwack, Thwack, Thwack!
Toxotis releases three prestigious silver arrows successively, and as they slice through the air to almost pierce Milan's shoulder, a razor-sharp tail with a black to blue ice-like gradient at its tip, morphs out of his left shoulder and instantly slashes all three arrows causing them to freeze and drop onto the ground.
"Thanks, lil bud," Milan says whilst looking onto his shoulder.
"Meu!" Meumeu sneers on Milan's left shoulder whilst frowning and looking straight towards Toxotis, Karagoz, and Sven.
Milan begins to squeeze Mastigotis's neck tightly, causing him to pass out. Immediately he looks up and lunges towards Sven, releasing a devastating punch with a force so strong Sven slides back and the wrist he attempts to block with makes a sickening shattering sound.
"Damn this useless body I possess!" Sven shouts out whilst tearing the badge on his shoulder that reads 'SOLDIER NO.1'. "He didn't even make contact with my wrists. Milan of the Lonares family, what a sin your family has committed towards the Motherland. They couldn't control you, now one of the strongest forms of Meraki is against the Motherland," Sven mutters.
Milan whilst taking steps towards Sven responds, "Oh shut it, you know I can hear you right? That name doesn't ring a bell to me, do you know why…? Because I denounced it out of my blood, I made sure to pay for the sins that I was born into. If I spare you all, make sure to tell that family to shove it up there."
Toxotis begins to grind his teeth and immediately aims once again towards Milan, this time with a certain fierce look in his eyes.
Right as he is about to release the arrow,
BANG, BANG! Gunshots ring out.
Toxotis drops his aim and swivels his head, "Pathetic animal," he mutters as he turns his gaze towards Malik who wields dual pistols.
"You have your own battles to fight so leave Milan alone," Malik says whilst clanking the bottom of his dual pistols simultaneously.
Kleptis rides beside Toxotis and both their skeletal horses begin to dig and scrape into the dry red dirt with their right hooves as if they are bulls.
From behind Malik's back, Estrella walks beside him.
"Where's Esmeralda?" Malik asks, whilst still looking straight ahead.
"I left her in the shed, don't worry about her, let's deal with these home wreckers," Estrella responds.
Malik quickly looks at Estrella, "Well said, Este," he mutters with a slight grin.
"She's mine," Estrella says whilst pointing towards Kleptis.
As they both begin to sprint forward, Malik spins his dual pistols and immediately releases an entire clip of bullets, but Toxotis evades each one.
"How dare you bring your measly guns to this battle, show me some respect!" Toxotis screams out in fury as his skeletal horse rides towards Malik with speed whilst he draws his arrow.
"Have you not heard of David versus Goliath? Oh sorry, the Motherland doesn't believe in anything but the mother," Malik says whilst reaching into his pouch to reload his pistols.
-
Kleptis rides her horse towards Estrella, "What beautiful hair you have, I wonder what it will look like if my acid burns it," she says.
Estrella squints her eye waiting for the moment.
"Relax, I am not like those brutes, I will admit though, I do like a good fist fight," Kleptis says as her silver nails begin to drip and sizzle with green acid.
Estrella keeps her chin tucked, breathing steadily through her nose.
Silence rises between the two.
Kleptis lunges forward with immense speed and launches a crushing upper cut toward Estrella's stomach, although Estrella blocks it with the back of her forearms. Immediately, Kleptis jumps back and begins smiling.
Sizzle, Sizzle.
The acid residue left over by Kleptis's punch drips onto Estrella's forearms; the chemical stench of the acid piercing her nose
"Aah!" Estrella hisses whilst pressing her hand against her skin. She begins to breathe her amber-gold luminescent spores from her mouth onto the sizzling patches on her skin. Instantly, a certain warmth like that of the sun enshrines her forearms and the patches start to disappear.
"You possess…Healers Meraki?" Kleptis asks in shock. "That doesn't make sense, there was a girl in the ascendentary with traces of Healers Meraki, only one person can possess a certain Meraki at a time. Unless… that girl is related to you somehow. It would make sense too; your features are alike."
"Keep Esmeralda out of your mouth, I don't know what that place did to her, but she's back where she belongs," Estrella yells out in frustration.
"Right…so ascendentary girl is your sister," Kleptis slowly says as they begin to sprint towards each other.
-
"Malik, Estrella, I appreciate you both, leave these two with me," Milan mutters whilst starring at Sven and Karagoz.
"Sven my lord, let's get this over and done with," Karagoz says.
His black skeletal horse begins to slowly speed up and close the distance. Milan bends down low as if he's a sumo wrestler. As he reaches out with both his arms aimed at Karagoz, a strong invisible force begins to pull Karagoz off his skeletal horse and push him towards Milan. With his all-black armor beginning to crumple and his feet aggressively sliding, he violently stabs his black skeletal-looking sword into the ground and holds onto it tightly.
Milan pulls his arm back and the invisible force pushing Karagoz ceases.
"Is that all you rely on… your Gravity Meraki? Can you not fight me like a true leader?" Karagoz yells out whilst pulling his black skeletal sword coated in red dust out of the ground.
Milan slowly walks and eases into an eye blurring sprint. In the blink of an eye, he appears in front of Karagoz. He releases a direct heavy punch; which Karagoz quickly blocks with his sword causing him to slide backwards.
A second doesn't even pass by and Milan lunges forward once again releasing a punch towards Karagoz's left rib which he blocks with his black skeletal sword once again. Milan identically attempts the same thing on his right rib, and without making contact, an invisible force clobbers Karagoz; but in the same motion, Karagoz raises his skeletal sword and releases it with intense speed towards Milan, which leaves a deep cut on his forearm.
Milan quickly hops back and holds his forearm tightly as it begins to slightly bleed.
"I commend you," Milan says. "To gamble and exchange blows with me when you know your ribs might collapse is truly brave," he says with slight laughter following.
-
Sven, grinding his teeth tightly, releases his gaze from the brawl and turns it towards Shinra and Kira. "My sons, go and raise the unconscious core soldiers within the camp. This body I currently possess is not strong enough to compete with his Meraki, and I don't know how much longer Karagoz can hold him off," he says.
"Yes father!" Shinra and Kira reply.
As they begin to head inside the demolished camp, they feel something is off. They quickly turn their body to find Sven sliding towards Milan.
"You all better stand still unless you want your leader to not have a neck," Milan shouts out as he aggressively pulls Sven like a magnet into his hand.
Sven, struggling to even turn his heavy neck from the heavy force of Milan's pull, side eyes Shinra and Kira, "Go wake… them up," he says whilst straining his voice.
Shinra and Kira intensely stare at Milan whilst slithering their snake-like tongue. "We will kill you!" they simultaneously shout out together, as they turn to continue their run into the camp.
"It seems your leader doesn't like his neck," Milan says with a giggle whilst looking at Karagoz
"Get your hands of him now!" Karagoz yells out, which causes birds to chirp and fly away from the dry trees.
"Oh don't be so angry, we both know this isn't his real body. I was young but I remember when my family would talk about Sven the Possessor or sorry shall I say, The Mother, The Son and The Devout one. Maybe if we keep him hostage, the Mother will come face me herself," Milan says.
Immediately after saying this, Sven's body begins to convulse aggressively. A dark-inky liquid begins to flow out of his mouth and begins forming a halo on his head.
"What a putrid smell," Milan says as he covers his nose with his right hand and his left still holding onto a convulsing Sven's neck.
As the halo finishes forming, it shoots away from the Skulldem camp with blistering pace, and the NO.1 hand soldier of the Sven begins to shrivel and dry out like a raisin.
Thud!
Milan drops the body onto the ground, "Absolutely ruthless," he says.
Karagoz whistles and his black skeletal horse begin to strut towards him. Toxotis, Kleptis, and Mastigotis replicate the same whistle causing their masquerade adorning skeletal horses to ride towards them. Hoping on, they all quickly ride beside Karagoz.
"The Sven has vacated the area; it is time for us to do the same. Where is Machairas?" Karagoz asks.
"I am right here," a voice says as a crimson and gold patterned masqueraded skeletal horse morph out of thin air right beside Kleptis.
"Where have you been?" Karagoz enquires.
Machairas whilst placing his prestigious razor-thin sword into its sheath responds, "I was trying to capture that Emperors Meraki boy, but I couldn't because he almost killed me. Looks like you all knocked him out though," Machairas says.
"We didn't do anything, those snake twins snuck up behind him. All of that doesn't matter, as I said we need to abort the mission due to Sven vacating the area. We were waiting for you and now that you are back, we are waiting on the snake twins to follow through on the order Sven gave them; to awaken the unconscious core soldiers within the camp.
-
"Wake up you useless idiots!" Shinra yells out.
In unison, all unconscious core soldiers begin to rise from their hazy slumber. They exchange looks of confusion.
"What are you looking at each other for? We have to get back to the Motherland now!" Shinra continues to yell.
Immediately after saying this though, the ground begins to vibrate.
With blistering pace, Shinra's face is pummeled so hard into the ground, the right side of his face gets dented and a few of his teeth roll out onto the ground.
In the midst of the silence after the punch, an intense buzzing noise sounds, and as all the risen core soldiers and Kira look over at the culprit, there Silas stands, his arms vibrating, and the vibrant green patches growing wider.
"You! What did you do to my brother!" Kira shouts out in agony as he sprints and slides towards his unconscious brother.
"You two stabbed the emperor," Silas whispers chillingly, his arms continuing to vibrate at a higher frequency as each second passes.
"Wake up brother…please wake up," Kira sobs out.
With a quick slither of his tongue, he jumps onto his feet, his fingernails grow in length, "You've killed my brother, do you understand that? You will pay with your life!" he shouts out.
All grade core soldiers begin to move and frantically rush back towards the Obsidian Cavalry riders.
As Kira's fingernails turn black, Silas's hands continue to vibrate relentlessly and right as they are about to lunge at each other, a sense of peril drowns every single living thing.
SCREECH! SCREECH!
Sharp screechy screams sound not far from the camp causing birds to ruffle their feathers and burst away from the camp.
-
"Is that what I think it is?" Estrella whispers to Milan.
"Yup, sounds like there are two of them fuckers! As soon as these core soldiers scram, heal Vince," Milan responds with a monotone voice, his eyes still locked onto the Obsidian riders and all the risen core soldiers.
Estrella steps in front of Milan, "So we are really going to abandon our camp, our home?" she demands.
"I know me and you have a lot of good memories here," Milan says whilst caressing Estrella's face.
Estrella slaps his hands off.
"You know what I am capable of," he says, "I can swallow these Motherland scrubs whole and devour those two Umbra's heading this way. But I don't want to risk getting the new guys hurt, especially Vince. So listen to what I am saying, go get your sister and by the time you are back these Motherland scrubs won't be here, then we can go meet up with the guys who took the escape route earlier," he continues to say.
Estrella, with no response, starts running back towards the shed.
Milan looks over to Malik, "Come here," he says. "Go let Boz and the kid's friends know we will be taking our leave soon. We can't stay here any longer."
Malik nods his head and begins sprinting inside the camp.
-
SCREECH! SCREECH!
The sharp screechy noise inches closer.
"No Umbra is going to stop me from killing you!" Kira blurts out in the middle of his lunge towards Silas.
Silas obliges and takes his own lunge forwards, but immediately the vibration of his arms halts, his entire body gets limp as he loses balance and stumbles into the red dirt.
"We don't have time for this nonsense!" Karagoz screams out whilst holding a rapidly flashing green circle button that states on the bottom 'Ascendant #6'. "Grab that idiot," Karagoz says whilst turning his gaze to Mastigotis.
Mastigotis raises two whips and starts spinning them with blurring speed which then morphs into lassos. He quickly releases one and grips Kira who begins scratching the silver braided whip with his sharp pointy black nails. He then releases the second towards Silas, who is limp on the ground.
"Let me go! Let me go!" Kira continues to madly shout out as his snake-like tongue slithers and his saliva disperses onto his uniform and gold grade armband.
SCREECH!
"What the hell, we have to get out of here now," a silver grade core soldier whispers to his peer.
Below him, the ground begins to melt in on itself which begins to create a hole and turns the vibrant red dirt into a deep ink black looking like liquid. The same black ink looking like liquid shaped like a slender arm begins to stretch out of the hole reaching for the silver grade core soldier's ankle.
As he looks down, he's yanked into the melting floor. Not a single sound is heard from him.
"Aaah!" the core soldier standing near shouts, but instantly, he's tugged into a similar melting hole which quickly appears below him. "Help me! Help m…" he shouts, but his final words muffled and sucked into thin air.
Chaos arises.
All core soldiers begin to scramble and sprint away from the camp. Many stumble upon each other causing a heavy plume of red dust to shroud the area.
Each skeletal horse of the Obsidian Cavalry riders, turn away from the camp and rear whilst letting out hollow squeals. They begin to gallop frantically, stomping on multiple core soldiers.
The sound of pain and agony entrenches the entire entry of the dismantled Skulldem camp.
-
"Its too late Este, let's go now!" Milan shouts out across to the shed as he grabs and cradles an unconscious Vince into his right arm. He then begins to run towards Estrella, "Give her to me," he says whilst grabbing and cradling Esmeralda into his left arm.
The two begin to run into the camp. Behind them, chaos continues to unravel. Ahead of them, Boz, Malik, Alana and Dean are gathered at the spot Chris lies unconscious.
"Este, don't be mad, not every battle is meant to be fought. Our family is what matters the most, we will group up with everyone and find somewhere to lay low until Vince can control his Meraki. Remember what I told you when we first met, we want to destroy the Motherland and its branches for good, not just fight and kill our family in the process. I know you don't understand now, but just believe in me," Milan says in a soft honied voice.
"I thought that we found a home, and we don't have to keep running and finding places, but I guess I was just being delusional," Estrella replies. "You don't have to explain…"
In the middle of her sentence, Estrella trips, and in Milan's eyes, as everything moves at slow motion, he notices an inky black hole melting the ground below and the slender inky looking arm reaching for Estrella.
Although Milan can see Estrella reaching for him and shouting for him, he hears nothing but a ringing sensation in his ears.
Thump!
As the arm begins to pull Estrella deeper into the ground, Milan drops Vince and Esmeralda.
"Este," he mutters.
END OF CHAPTER
THEORIES MERAKI – UMBRA'S ARE BACK WITH CHAOS, WHAT IS MILAN TO DO AS ESTRELLA SINKS INTO THE GROUND?
NEXT CHAPTER – TBD