Chapter 6

Dawnni, Lupin, Arestasia, and Meryln had reached the front doors of the castle. The storm clouds were devouring the daytime sky, covering the surrounding area with darkness. Verdin, Cecilia, and Blissalra suddenly rushed out of the castles doors. 

"Guys! Chevalier went nuts!" Cecilia exclaimed. 

"What? What happened?" Arestasia replied. 

"I don't know! I think he's possessed!" 

Slow footsteps were heard from the castle. Chevalier walked out with his sword in hand.  His eyes were a deep blood red. 

"Chevalier? What's going on?" Dawnni asked. 

Chevalier glared at Dawnni. 

"Begone!" 

Chevalier jumped towards Dawnni, sword ready. Lupin quickly jumped in front of him and parried Chevalier's attack with one of his blades. 

"Dude! What's wrong with you?!"

Chevalier swiftly spun around and stabbed his sword into Lupin's side.  

"Lupin!" Cecilia screamed. 

Lupin stared into Chevalier's dead eyes. He could see the malice in his expressionless face.

"...Why...?" Lupin said weakly before falling to the ground dead. 

Cecilia quickly drew her bow and pulled back and arrow. 

"You're going down!" 

She fired the arrow with great force. Chevalier quickly deflected the arrow upward. He then caught the arrow when it descended and skillfully threw it at Cecilia. The arrow had pierced her in the throat.  

"Grappling Vines!" Blissalra chanted. 

Vines blasted through the ground and wrapped around Chevalier. Meryln dashed towards him but Chevalier suddenly vanished. Dawnni was petrified. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing; everyone was dying at such a fast pace. Lupin and Cecilia was laying on the ground in a pool of blood. 

"Where is that b*****d?" Meryln yelled. 

"I'll slice him to bi-" 

Meryln was silent. She dropped her sword and fell to her knees and onto her stomach which made her head fall off of her shoulders. Arestasia screamed. Blissalra suddenly howled in pain. Chevalier was behind her, slowly thrusting his blade through her back. 

"Stop this!" Arestasia yelled.

Arestasia drew her sword, changed it into its whip form and lashed it at Chevalier. Chevalier quickly directed his palm towards Verdin. 

"Come to me..."

Verdin was pulled by the gravitational force and was slashed in between his eyes by Arestasia's blade. Chevalier pulled the sword out of Blissalra's back and dashed towards Arestasia.

"No!" Dawnni yelled. "Silent Shock Wave!"

Dawnni thrust both hands forward released a blue flash that blasted Chevalier back. In mid-air, Chevalier disappeared again. 

"Dawnni, I'm scared! So much is happening at once! I don't know what to do!" Arestasia exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around Dawnni. 

"Stay strong Ares, we can do this." 

"But what if he-" 

"If he what?"  

Arestasia suddenly started to spit up blood. 

"Ares?! Arestasia?! Speak to me!" 

Arestasia dropped to the ground. Tears started to flood Dawnni's eyes and run down his cheeks. He fell to his hands and knees. He then looked up and through his blurred vision, he spotted Chevalier floating above the castle. Anger and hate suddenly burned in his heart. Dawnni got up and raised his hand into the air. 

"Come to my aid: Bon!" 

Dawnni was shrouded in a orange aura. Dawnni clenched his fist and put it onto his chest. The orange aura suddenly became thicker and started to flare.

"Swords of Redemption!" Dawnni chanted. 

White swords made of pure light energy appeared around Dawnni, they then pointed towards Chevalier. 

"So many lives lost..."

Dawnni directed his palm towards Chevalier and the swords flew towards him at a swift pace. Each sword stabbed through the swordsman.  

"I won't let you get away with this!" 

Dawnni snapped his fingers and the swords exploded with great force. When the smoke cleared, Chevalier was still floating there. He then quickly disappeared and reappeared in front of Dawnni. 

"Dawnni, listen very closely guy..." he said calmly. 

Dawnni felt his blade pierce through his stomach. He looked at him in the face and noticed that one eye was red and one was blue as he felt his body become light and weary.

"The evil power is here...I'm holding off his possession as much as I can. I left a scroll in the Elder's room that will explain what's going on, what you should do, and how to stop this." 

The blade was quickly drawn back from his stomach and Dawnni fell to his knees. The dark clouds began to spiral together into a devastating black hole. The black hole lifted the castle and pulled it into the sky and was shredded into bits. The corpses around Dawnni and Chevalier and the buildings of the village was sucked into the black hole. 

"Goodbye Dawnni..." Chevalier said softly. 

Suddenly everything went black. Dawnni slowly opened his eyes. He was laying on the ground in front of the castle. The black clouds were gone.

"Dawnni are you okay?" Meryln asked. 

All of the soldiers were standing in front of the castle. 

"What...happened?" Dawnni asked as he slowly got up.  "Chevalier walked out of the castle and then you just passed out. He then said, 'I must go and vanished." 

Dawnni dusted the gravel off of his black shirt and brown vest.  

"Could it have been an illusion? Is that an ability of his?"

"Dawnni..." Verdin whispered. 

"You know what you need to do..." 

Dawnni nodded and ran inside the castle. 

"What's happening Elder? Why did Chevalier leave?" Cecilia asked. 

"All will be revealed in due time." Verdin replied. 

He had a very disappointed and concerned tone to his voice. Dusk was falling. The sun was on the horizon. Fireflies began to dance in the air. Dawnni walked out of the castle doors with a scroll in hand. 

"What does the scroll say Dawn?" Lupin asked. 

Dawnni unraveled the scroll. 

"It says, 'Soldiers of Koroko Village, if you are reading this, then that must mean that the evil power has come to manipulate my power. The reason why I have come to this village and started the soldier program is because it was my destiny to. Being able to see into the future, I knew that the evil power was coming. Now that I am possessed by its power, it will continue to send its creatures to terrorize not only Koroko, but the whole land of Visthalin. In order to reach my location, you must first obtain the Moonlight Crystal I had left in each village. There are four total. Collect them all and they will send you to the Bone Castle in the sky. The evil power had found out that I had hidden the crystals inside the dungeons of the villages, but it hasn't found them yet so it decided to send out his best warriors to guard there. Each crystal will teleport you to the next. I had set up a beacon in the dungeon of this village to take you to the first spot. Last thing I need to tell you is that all soldiers should not go. There are six of you. Three must stay and protect the village while the other three go on this journey. Good luck. May Respaltia bless you on your travels.'".  

"Well, looks like it's show time!" Lupin exclaimed. 

"How do we divide the teams?" Blissalra asked. 

"Well, both teams should be balanced with a warrior, a magic user, and an assassin. So Meryln, Cecilia, and Blissalra will protect the village while Arestasia, Dawnni, and Lupin goes on the journey.  

"Aw man! I wanted to go on an adventure!" Meryln said.

"Traveling is a trip. Only when your heart belongs to the important goals of your task is when it's an adventure." Verdin replied. 

"Okay..." 

Meryln slumped in disappointment. 

"It's not like you would have survived anyway..." Arestasia mumbled. 

"What was that blondie?!" 

"Oh, nothing. Only that your butter knife can't even strike anything with your slow arm..." 

"I'd like to see you try it!" 

"No, I'd rather have mine. I'm actually smart enough to know how much weight I need to swing effectively." 

"You listen here!-" 

"That's enough girls." Verdin said. 

"So childish..." Blissalra calmly said. 

"Arestasia's team, I want you to run to Lady Gessla's Item Shop and then head for the beacon." 

"Yes Elder!" they all exclaimed.

"Here's a detailed map of Visthalin."

Elder handed Arestasia the map. A few moments later, Arestasia's team made it to Lady Gessla's shop. There were scary masks on the walls. Lady Gessla stood behind a counter was full of worthless junk. Behind her were cauldrons filled with potions. She wore a beautiful purple and gold gown. Her mystifying hazel eyes opened wide with excitement as they entered.

"Ah! Welcome children! What can I do for you today?"

"Well-" Dawnni started.

"Say no more! I feel the magic surging through you! You must be in need of a magic energy elixir! I just learned the recipe!"

Dawnni was surprised.

"Yeah! That's right!"

"Yes sugar, give me one second."

Lady Gessla dipped a bottle in a cauldron of the blue potion. and gave it to Dawnni.

"That will be five hundred Zii!" she said holding her hand out with a big smile.

"Five hundred?!"

"Yes sugar! Potions don't come cheap!"

"I...don't have five hundred..."

Lady Gessla, gave Dawnni a glare that could peel paint off of a wall.

"Take it then..."

"What?"

"Take it...but expect to work for me until you pay for it entirely!"

"...Ye...Yes ma'am.."

Several minutes later after Arestasia bought some blade polish and Lupin bought some poison, the trio were on their way towards the dungeon.

"Don't worry Dawn, I bet the price was that high because it was a new recipe." Lupin said.

"Yeah, the only reason why she's rich is she finds ways to lift her prices like she lifts her b***s with that bra." Arestasia added.

They reached a cave.

"This is it guys." Arestasia said.

A feint red glow was emanating from the cave.

"Let's go."