[RIPLLE] This step was unlike any other, the ripple was akin to a wave.
They (Leo and his peers) became translucent as the world came to life, they were within it but not particularly of it.
The perfect descriptor would be; A memory.
***
The lady and her four caped knights sat together in what seemed like a tactical meeting, the settings resembled that of warfare planning.
"I can't hear what their saying." Leo thought as it continued.
One of them pointed to the giant map on their table, on it were many of locations illustrated as kingdoms kingdoms with one in the middle.
Two Kingdoms were larger than the others – the one at the middle with the name (Gyrias) and the one to the far north with the name (Sokhem)
"Gyrias wasn't the name of a person?…" Leo wondered.
The other kingdoms had been cancelled out with red crosses and numbers besides them, the three most recent being — (Mjar 93) (Hurv 94) and (Brum 95)
The one her ally pointed to was an unmarked kingdom to the east (Altraven)
After a bit of speaking It looked like they had gotten to a conclusion as the scene changed.
–
She stroked the body of the animal as she laid alone in her room, a smile went across her face; she looked happy.
Shortly after she looked through the large window with a contempt look on her face, the land she ruled over was vast and prosperous, with most of the structures floating mid air.
On the sky were two suns, one white the other red.
"Two stars?
Was that even possible?" Leo pondered, it had become apparent to him and the others that this place wasn't earth or at the very least the one they knew of, as to where it was? They had no Idea.
She looked at a large picture frame that was at her bedside with a man and herself in the picture and looked fondly at it, he was white and had pointed ears just like her.
Then she turned over to look at the bed and the man sat on it smiling at her, she gasped as she stretched her hands towards him with near teary eyes and a smile.
[Whoosh]
He faded into the air like dust; beyond her reach.
Her facial reaction changed, she held her white hair tightly and pulled on it, cutting out strands as the scene changed again.
–
She and her allies along with a hundred knights charged towards a large wall.
They were riding beasts nearly three metres tall, they had the same frame as the little animal she had been petting.
With this Leo had finally gotten assured;
"Those creatures they're riding are the same as the sprout, the only different is that they don't have a spike on their back.
What would have been if they were these many when they attacked the fourth sector." Leo felt sickened, Caesar and the others could do nothing but watch.
The beasts stopped, then charged aether in their mouths, their rib cages reddened and expanded.
[Boom! Boom! Boom!]
They shot beams of flames upwards in volleys to the tall wall, but instead of hitting the wall they were suspended mid air by what could only be described as a barrier.
The impact sent shockwaves through the area, with loud bangs that could rupture ear drums.
It was becoming increasingly noticeable that their shots were futile, none reached the wall — they gradually ceased fire.
[Scraping]
A large rectangular section from the wall behind the barrier sunk into the ground slowly.
From the path it created multiple troops all wrapped in thick amours of stone marched through with their halos released they all walked the nature path, most were at two crowns and their third halo.
The exception was the man behind them all whom had four crowns of the golden path, he was presumably their leader, clad in a thin grey armour.
The lady drew her sword signalling the start of the battle as her knights charged through, but she and her four allies stayed back watching the flow of the clash.
Their opponents sent boulders flying through the air from swinging their arms, killing multiple beasts as well as their riders, but they weren't going to be felled that easily.
[Crumble]
With a swing of their blades they sent slashes of wind aether cutting down the boulders and their conjurers.
It was a close knit encounter, but the advantage tilted to that of the stone armoured people the moment their leader stepped up.
With a wave of his hand hundreds of Giant golden boulders — each larger than the size of a building — appeared out of thin air in the sky, they were suspended without falling down.
He waved his arm forward like a composer waving his baton and the boulders concurred; they fired at the knights whilst they were on the verge of clashing against the troops he commanded.
That move alone wiped both his troops and opponents outas a grin went across the white cheeks of the man clearly pleased by the outcome.
He spread his arms open; the dark energy that seeped out from the slain beasts flowed into him as he attained the fifth halo with no thorn.
At the other end of the battlefield, the lady was done watching, she raised her sword in preparations for a strike.
Her sword had no glow or anything, no signs of aether infused - it looked ordinary, she sliced across the air gently but was stopped mid strike.
The hand of one of the caped knights patted her shoulder then shook his head, he spoke some words to her and she consequently stopped the strike.
He stepped down from his mount and released his aether, he was at his fifth crown and at the second thorn of his sixth halo.
He took a step and space converged around him, he covered the distance of near two kilometres in less than a second appearing right in front of the man.
He swung his blade with the continued momentum from his dash, however this didn't catch the man off guard.
In the very brief window, he had conjured up a sword and blocked the knight's strike, despite the aether stage difference he still had a look of confidence.
[Bang!] The clash sent as large shockwave through the entire area (reaching even the lady), one strong enough to shatter the barrier surrounding the walls and falling those same walls.
A deep crater nearly sixty metres in diameter formed beneath their feet, with the caped knight hovering on air with wind swirling around him, whilst the man fell into the crater.
The caped knight quickly flew in as the fighting resumed, they clashed swords multiple times with the man looking to be the superior fighter.
Golden balls formed in the air, they liquified and morphed into spears attacking the caped knight who had to parry them with his blade.
He evaded the ones he could while dodging the man's attacks, the spears kept raining down, it was hard for him to keep focus on so many things so he made his move.
He spread his arms open and countless arrows of wind emerged, they honed the man, but he did something strange — he stood waiting for the attacks to hit him.
?!
The man's armour glowed purple on impact and the arrows got sent flying back to their original point, interfering with the others as well as outright destroying some.
With a brief opening, the caped knight was caught unaware as the man cut off the knights arm with a sword he had conjured, two other caped knights joined him as backup.
The man fought all of them at once at a near standstill, the shockwaves from their blades colliding deformed the area, forming craters upon craters as the scene changed.
–
The knights returned to the white lady with one holding the head of the man, they were beaten up with one having lost a limb.
Even at the loss of their leader, more stone armoured troops walked out of the broken wall that had lost its barrier.
The lady grinned, she released her halo, raised her blade then sliced down through open space, it looked like nothing happened for some seconds as the troops kept pouring out.
She turned around and the cape knights followed suite as a large shadow cast over the kingdom in its entirety, the scene changed again.
–
They were at the war room once more, she crossed off the kingdom of Altraven from the map with the number 96 written beside it.
The knight that was now left with one arm was the same one that had pointed to Altraven previously, he was also the one to point at their next destination; (Flo).
The scene changed again.
–
An unknown amount of time had passed, they were back at the meeting room again as they crossed the Kingdom of Flo off the map with the number 97 written beside it.
There were only two unmarked now (Gyrias) and (Sokhem), this time she was the one to point with her fingers at their next victims Sokhem.
It was on to the next scene.
–
She was seen addressing her subjects whom all had white skin and hair like hers — they numbered highly into the hundreds of thousands.
She wore a red robe that swept the ground with the four caped knights nowhere to be seen.
After giving a speech to the people, they were joyous with their cheers sounding like roars that reverberated through the atmosphere.
Leo had learnt more from watching this; "The inhabitants of whatever this world is aren't human, their skin is pure white so is their hair, and the average height is over two metres.
Everyone can use aether as well, or is it could use, it looks like a memory."
The scene quickly changed
–
She sat on her bed in her room all alone, chuckling while the little animal slept on her laps as she groomed it aggressively.
[Glitching noises]
She looked through the room's window as the scenery flickered giving a glimpse of a view more sinister, the scene changed as soon as it came.
–
She deployed all the remaining knights under her that numbered in the thousands and led them just like before.
They travelled through canyons then forests that had plants hundreds of metres in height for an unknown period of time.
And at the end of their journey was a large grey dome, it was the the kingdom of Sokhem which was bordered on all sides by mountains of grey stone.
An area of never ending storms as purple lightning pierced the dark sky, it was hard to tell if it was day or night.
They prepared the volley of fire as they usually did, their greatest mistake was that very act.
[Boom!]
The moment they shot at the Dome, it glowed purple, lustered then reflected the shots, the volleys rained upon them with the same force as they had sent them with.
Those late to react - which were most of them - were on the receiving end of their own attacks, incinerated from the face of the earth.
They had not activated their halos since they had no expectations for it, this left them in disarray and confusion and gave their opponents an opening.
The entrance of the dome split open, hundreds of troops clad in the same grey material of the dome, rode out of it.
They mounted beasts that resembled that of the Gyrias people but plated in the same grey material they wore.
Each of them were already at their fourth crown of the nature path, the power gap was visible and the results could be guessed from that very moment.
The battle was short-lived, one could even call it one-sided, Sokhem was on the verge of overwhelming victory.
They attacked using sound to disorient their opponents and disrupt their aether, it was really effective against them.
Even with the intervention of the caped knights, the troops of Sokhem had the advantage, the cause being their amour that reflected the wind slashes the knights relied on.
The leader of Sokhem stood at the entrance of the dome, his white body was adorned in a grey robe with a long sharp white beard and white hair.
With two on his head, one on each eye and two worn as braces, he had completed all crowns of the golden path.
He watched the battle with satisfaction but a little surprise; admist all this the lady was smiling, it left him in little worry.
She kept on laughing, even after nearly all her troops had been laid to waste on the battlefield she refrained from participating and carried on with her laughter as the scene changed.
–
The two caped knights that now remained retreated alongside her, amongst them was the one armed knight.
The troops of Sokhem were on their tail throughout the retreat journey, with their leader behind them, the knights held them back for their Queen to escape.
The scene changed.
–
The lady walked into a Kingdom, the buildings were crumbling, with few white people on the streets, they welcomed the lady with fear stricken eyes.
There were broken structures hanging in the sky while most had fallen, even at that she walked through it with a smile.
Reality flickered as the scene changed.
–
She laid on the bed with her hair unkept, strands of hair scattered all over and her pet in hand, she looked beside her and the man on the photo laid with her.
She blinked and he was gone, her eyes were weary but the grin on her face remained.
She got up and walked to the window, the two stars were in their full bloom yet the area was different from before the structures in the sky were no more and the land she ruled over was crumbling.
She and shook her head, it (the view) returned to 'normal' but not for long, it went back to its crumbled state as she gently dropped to the floor and began laughing with tears rolling down her cheeks.
The scene changed again.
–
She addressed her people, which were less than a thousand, they looked famished and tired, booing at her yet she smiled.
She shook her head and the thousands became hundreds of thousands, the boos became cheers, and they all loved her.
But not for long, it reverted back to its norm as the scene went and another came.
–
[Footsteps echoed in the throne room]
She sat on the throne with the animal on her lap, she looked at the entrance as somebody walked in; it was the leader of Sokhem.
Troops flooded into the throne room behind him, they were fully armed.
From this point onwards their conversations were now audible and Leo could think no more.
–
"You look like you've been waiting for my arrival." The man's voice echoed through the room.
"...He…hehe.." She chuckled.
"You have finally gone mad I presume…it wouldn't even be a presumption as it would only take a mad person to wipe out ninety percent of the world's population.
My surprise when I heard the news of the loss of Altraven, and then finding out that every other Kingdom had been wiped off the map.
I would have to thank you for that since I had no bother with the outside world until you came to my land as well." He said with anger in his voice.
"Shh, you'll disturb him, he's sleeping." She said as she petted the animal on her laps.
"You started a slaughter against every pale man and woman, for what?!
A kingdom whose destruction was caused by you and you alone?
You have failed the people of Gyrias." His voice didn't reach her at all.
He released his aether.
She picked the picture frame from beside the throne and caressed it then kissed the man on it.
The smile remained.
" For the crimes against palekind, for the death of millions.
I am here to liberate your people and I will take on the role of the executioner" He stomped on the floor and chains of gold wrapped around her legs and arms.
They wrapped around her torso as well as her neck binding her in place.
She struggled, this woke up the animal as it ran away.
"V- Ve-
"You think I would let you use any words, any chance of you using aether shall be taken away." He twisted his right palm as if turning a nob.
The chains that wrapped around her body melted to form a mould.
"It must hurt so much yet she doesn't even scream, is she that far gone already?" On his left arm a golden translucent sword of sound manifested.
While he was doing this she released her own aether and broke the casting quickly manifesting her sword.
"I was mistaken to think it would hold her for long." He snapped and sent sound waves to disrupt her aether.
She was faster.
She swung her sword and sliced through the air pristinely, at the end of her strike the sound hit her; she tanked the hit taking little damage.
"What was that, what did she do?!" He waited for something to happen but nothing did.
"What a pointless endeavour you went through, have you truly lost all sanity?" He snapped.
He appeared right in front of her as they clashed swords multiple times, she looked the better warrior.
"Gold aether is physical, I can't even reflect her strikes.
Now that she knows about the ability of my clothing she isn't even using the wind attribute.
She is limited, I am not, so how come I'm still at a disadvantage!
And what could be even more annoying, it's the same as the battle yesterday…." He thought.
[Clash!]
"... WHAT'S THAT GRIN ON YOUR FACE, SHELLA YOU MAD WOMAN!!!" His voice thundered down the room as she parried his blade.
Their clash tore down the walls of the castle as it crumbled.
"Hehehehe" She giggled.
The place became dark, with the roof caving in.
"What?!" He looked up as his eyes widened.
The screams of his troops and the inhibitants of Gyrias filled the area.
His sword vanished.
"You are truly a mad woman…I had heard of it and thought the rumours were false." He muttered as he looked up to the sky.
Above the kingdom of Gyrias was a giant golden slab thousands of kilometres wide and very thick.
It pierced through the clouds as it fell upon them at ridiculous speeds, all hope was lost as her crazed laugh filled the throne room.
"You would commit suicide just to kill m-" He looked down at his chest.
[Stab] "Kugh!" he spat out blood as she twisted the blade in his chest.
He fell there lifeless as the scene changed.
–
The slab was still coming down, she covered herself and the animal in a ball of wind that had multiple layers, then made multiple layers of gold and braced for impact.
The troops had dispersed long since, a last ditch effort that was futile on all fronts.
The scene changed.
–
The entire kingdom was no more, everything flattened, walls and buildings turned to dust.
She laid there bloodied with the animal in hand, she smiled as she looked around and looked happy.
She could no longer move her body, she did one final action.
With blood stained fingers she scribbled something on the floor;
It was an illustration of a kingdom with the name Gyrias, she crossed it out and wrote number 98 beside it.
She dragged her body towards the only thing that somehow survived the crash; the throne.
She sat on it and placed the body of the animal on her body.
"There we go" She said with a voice fine like wine and a wide smile on her face as light gradually faded from her eyes.
A hand pierced out of a tear in space itself it was black and overflowing with dark aether.
"Become one of mine, walk my path." the obscure voice behind the tear in space said as it gave her a bowl with the letters
–
[Huff Huff] Leo was out of breath as the memory came to an end.
The throne was now barely meters away, the lady stood before the throne with a bowl in hand.
Everything gradually began fading, from the knights and the castle, to the lady who was now drinking from the bowl, they were all turning to dust.
The only thing that remained was the throne and the ghastly being that appeared sitting on it once more.
"It's going away...
I wonder what Caesar thought about that…" He thought as he turned over to his peers.
He placed his elbow on Caesar's shoulder and it phased through.
"Caesar?" Leo's pupils shook.
From Saul to Caesar they were all turning into dust with the same look on their face as when they had first arrived.
"Wha-" Leo stuttered but was interrupted by the voice;
"Lay your eyes on her, she who lived within her illusions.
Whose transfer from Queen to baroness was an ascent not descent.
The thirteenth commandment; Shella the baroness of insanit-" It was interrupted mid sentence by a scream.
"SHUT UP!!!
I don't care about this, what did you do them, where did they go!" Leo questioned in anger.
"Hmm, you truly believed in those fabrications?
If you could fall for those those falsehoods; then I don't think you knew those friends of yours very much.
As for the real ones they are probably experiencing the same thing as you are." The voice said to Leo.
His panic subsided as he stablised, then sat down on the floor with his hands on the water.
He splashed it on his face to wash the blood off his face, the blood came right off but the scar remained.
He looked at the being in front of him.
"So she is the same woman from that memory...
She's different now, the white hair is the only similarity I see, other than that this is something I'm not comfortable looking at.
Is it an illusion as well?"
[Whoosh] Mid thought the ghastly being and the throne faded into obscurity.
A door appeared in place of it.
After organising his thoughts, Leo opened it and walked through it.