Chapter 8 - Awakeneds

 Seeing his death slowly but surely approaching him made Pan despair.

 'Think, think, think,' thought Pan.

 After moments that felt like an eternity, he knew he would be unable to deflect, but not unable to survive, but a bitter price would have to be paid, a price he was reluctant to pay.

 But unable to think of another alternative and uncertain of how long this "slow" state would last, he made his decision.

 Ava watched the scene closely, for her it was just an instant.  She fell from physical and mental exhaustion, then heard a horrendous scream and when she looked at the source, Pan was falling backwards with the beast and there was a bone spear piercing her body.

 She barely had time to grieve for her friend as what followed left her bewildered, Pan who should now be choking on his own blood raised his sword in his left hand and pierced the creature's chest and then with a human cry of pain and the hideous scream of the fallen, both fell to the ground.

 She wanted to get up and check on his condition, but her body was numb and her mind became more and more cloudy, her eyes started to close on their own, refusing to listen to her commands.

 'Pan…' Was all she could think of before she lost consciousness.

 Some of the fallen who broke through the barrier smelled Pan's blood and were about to run to the feast. But a new scream, much louder and much more hideous, was heard in the night.

 The fallen stopped for a moment and then began to flee, some were hesitant to leave the sumptuous feast, but the crusaders freed from the fallen who fled dealt with the greedy few that remained. Until there are none left.

 The Crusaders had won! Victory that was announced with shouts of honor and glory by those who remained and brief prayers were said to those who departed.

 Then from the direction from which the hideous scream came, a red flash appeared and stopped. It was Leopold, who was drenched in blood from head to toe, but seeing his eyes full of life, it was clear to any experienced combatant that the blood was not his.

 "For the Order!" He roared in triumph.

 "For the Order!" Replied his crusaders.

 But soon the gleam in Leopold's eyes was gone, replaced by regret.

 'How many do we have to sacrifice? How much do we still have to sacrifice? If I were more powerful…' Thought Leopold, looking at the carnage that turned the camp full of talented young people, half dead before graduation even began.

 'Prosperity? How foolish am I?' He criticized himself for his thoughts on the selection.

 But in the end, for Leopold there was no fairer cause to fight, to sacrifice himself, he was a cross master from skin to bone.

 "Burn the bodies and bring me a loss report," he ordered authoritatively, putting his doubts aside.

 'We will sacrifice whatever amount is necessary to see the end of the fallen, for the glory of the Order,' fanatical resolution flooding his countenance.

 After Leopold's order, the Crusaders began to gather the bodies and count the losses.

 Later that night, some crusaders gathered in the command hut.

 "We lost a total of ten crusaders and forty-seven apprentices, thirty-three white, twelve red, seven blue and five brown," a young blue crusader reported to Leopold. "Among the surviving apprentices there were some who awakened, some who were able to fight a fallen one and even kill one!" The young woman continued, excitement vivid in her voice.

 'Awakened?' Thought Leopold, surprised by the good news.

 "Tell me more about the awakened ones," Leopold ordered as he leaned forward under the table.

 Leopold wasn't the only one curious, all the other sizable crusaders, those who might become masters or even grand masters were now in the makeshift command hut waiting for the report, some had seen some of the youngsters awaken.  But in the midst of the battle against the fallen and they being the strongest, they couldn't afford to divert their attention to observing every event.

 "After collecting reports from other crusaders and testimonies from the apprentices and their servants, I have determined that there are a total of seven awakened ones and perhaps two more, but as their actions can simply be taken as luck we won't be sure until a test is made," said the crusade making Leopoldo smile from ear to ear.

 'There are already seven apprentices who will probably survive graduation, actually maybe nine, that's great! excellent!' He thought.

 "Of the seven we're sure, three are white, two are red, one is brown and the last one is blue, of the two we're not sure one is white and the other is…Green," said the young woman.

 'Green? Interesting,' thought Leopold.

 "Keep going," he encouraged.

 "Of the three whites one and a small nobleman from Lark, a boy named Harold, he awoken and heal a wound in his abdomen, the other two are ordinary townspeople and awaken also by healing similar wounds, being respectively a girl and a boy, called Lina and Tobby. The two reds are the son of a prosperous merchant in Lark, a boy named Aliardi who set a fallen man's tail on fire, and the other a noble lady named Avalossa who ripped a fallen limb in a impulse. The brown one is an orphan boy named Orpheu, who awakened and killed a fallen one with his bare hands and lastly and the blue one, a girl named Ava, who fought bravely against a fallen one before passing out."