CYER’S ESCAPE

Cyer had gained consciousness, forcing through shear will, to keep his eyes open against the waves of pain that felt as if they would knock him out instantly, "Trapped" was the only word in his mind... he tried to get up, and succeeded.

There was only one more man in the room who had his back turned towards Cyer and was sharpening the blade of his sword.

Cyer silently limped behind him tapping him on the shoulder, as soon as the man turned, Cyer punched him with as much force as he could gather on his adam's apple, the man almost immediately fell, managing to kick Cyer as he did, who fell on top.

The man holding on to his neck tried to scream but couldn't manage.

Cyer grappled him locking his own feet so that as the man tried to get up, he tripped, causing his sword to fall beside him, Cyer quickly held on to the hilt, the man trying to get his legs untangled from Cyer's sat up only to receive the thrust of his own sword into his neck.

Poisoned and consciousness barely keeping up, the assassin stood, breathing heavily, sword drawn and dripping with fresh blood, the paralysis still caused him difficulty maneuvering, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh... It was far from over...

Wiping the blood of his sword he dragged himself out into the corridor.

lumbering onward, the poison taking its effect, Cyer's body was exceptionally strong to have suffered only a partial paralysis till now, but he was sure that if he did not treat himself soon enough, he would end up dead. His body growing numb by the minute.

He turned a corner, now facing two unsuspecting guards, who immediately took notice of him, one drawing his sword while the other running for backup, Cyer could have dealt with both in an instant not even allowing them to move a step but unfortunately his body did not respond accordingly.

The guard who opposed him slashed at him, Cyer barely dogged replying with a slash of his own, but his arms were weak, and he couldn't deliver a fatal blow, The guard still on his feet quickly struck at Cyer for a second time. This time deflecting with his own sword Cyer managed to avoid death, but the defected sword cut deeply into his cheek. Bleeding Cyer backed up, as the guard charged again, his sword cutting at Cyer's shoulder as he tried to dodge.

"Guh," Cyer grunted as his vision blurred, the guard proceeded to kick him, but due to Cyer's well planted feet he did not fall back. Bowing forward, hands on his stomach Cyer exhaled sharply. The guard prepared for a finishing blow but Cyer in that moment stabbed him square in his chest as from his bowing position his opponent was left unguarded.

Kicking over the guard's body Cyer looked at him, his eyes met the guard's glare, as Cyer placed his sword over the guard's neck, his vision blurring again.

Shhhk!

Cyer severed the guard's neck as blood oozed out and drenched its owner, taking the water bottle from the corpse's waist Cyer drank up throwing some on his face as well. By then he could hear the sounds of several more guards, they had come back as reinforcements.

"Guess this is it..." Cyer thought,

"Being killed in the middle of the desert without accomplishing anything. Pathetic. Done in by poison or by those lowly guards. Both sounded so unappealing, " Cyer was smiling now.

"And if I die here, what about Kai, without his demon there is no way he can survive. " He pondered.

" I can't let that happen," making a resolve Cyer stood up straight, but immediately shook and had to relax again supporting himself with the sword.

"Who am I kidding" he said aloud with a light laugh.

"Hey, you... Free me and I will repay you" the voice came from beside him, looking around Cyer saw another prison, from inside he could only see a pair of orange cat like eyes glowing in the dark, his vision blurring more and more,

"I am from ... ... , and for my kind dying outside of the field of .... Is a disgrace, these...? hunters will kill me anyway or will sell ... I find both insulting ... Free me..." It was a woman's voice, Cyer not listening to the words rather unable to make them out, approached the cell door, A woman younger than himself was on the other side, she had short red hair and looked familiar.

She was bound in an odd manner, other than being inside metal bars, her hands were bound next to her neck such that she could not even open her fists. Her feet were bound together, a chain across her neck from a point a bit above her that allowed her to bend forward in order to consume water and food, like an animal. She was wearing a ragged sleeveless shirt and was bare foot.

Cyer raised his sword and stuck the lock but to no avail, he didn't have enough strength to back his strike, only managing to scratch the surface, he felt as though he was going to pass out at any moment,

"Hurry up, they're almost here." As the guards turned the corner, they saw Cyer, his hand pointing towards the cage, sword missing from his hand, Cyer turned around to look at the guards and smiled as he collapsed next to the door. He had thrown the sword at the ropes that bound the girl's feet, barely slashing through.

As soon as the girl's feet were free, she kicked the chain that held her neck, breaking it with ease, and then kicking at the metal door, with her unreal strength. She stepped out and looked at her prey.

The guards, sprinting forward were met head on, she tackled down the first one almost instantly, sinking her teeth into his throat, as she eyed her next target, ripping out the throat as she stood up. A fountain of blood followed, soaking her, The guard beside stuck at her with his sword but before he could get his blade anywhere near her, she kicked his hand, breaking it in the process also causing his sword to fly past them. Spinning around she again kicked him this time in the ribs, the sounds of his ribs breaking could be heard clearly, as he fell to the floor writhing in agony.

The girl stomped at his face without hesitation, crushing his skull. it was flattened by her shear strength.

The remaining three guards looked at her, eyes wide, as she proceeded to walk towards them in a seductive manner, her dark skin dripping with blood, she held her hands towards them,

"Open these" she ordered indicating towards her confinements, the guard next to her replied with a slash of his sword which the girl easily evaded with her cat like reflexes, retaliating with a kick to his gut, as the guard bowed due to the intense pain the girl swiftly positioned herself below him proceeding to gnaw at his throat as well, ripping it out without hesitation, bathing in blood, without pause she kicked the next guard breaking his neck in the process. The last guard was terrified, as the girl again held her hands forward along with her body, and repeated her command,

"Open these" The guard shaking with fear took out his keys and managed to free her hands shivering with fear, while the girl with the cat like eyes stared at his face, her eyes glowing in the dark passage. As soon as the confines were undone, the girl extended her hand towards the guard, ripping through his chest, breaking his ribs she held on to his heart, pulling it out she kicked away the corpse while holding the still beating heart in her hand.

"Now what do I do with this one," she said as she stepped towards the unconscious Cyer, the sounds of her bare feet barely audible as she walked.

"I guess I owe him..." She mused as she picked Cyer up with a single hand and proceeded towards the exit. Kicking open the door, and entering the sunlight, the dessert sun was unforgiving as ever and due to the intense heat, it appeared as though no one was around. So, without second thoughts, the girl lifting Cyer, stepped outside. Looking around, she saw the building she was looking for. The place her belongings were being kept, as she entered it, she found herself in a tunnel, like every other structure in the place this too was underground.

Walking through the passage with the unconscious Cyer on her shoulder she found herself soon face to face with more guards. Dealing with them brutally, she continued onwards towards the storage rooms only to find them empty.

"Damn," she exclaimed stepping outside once more. The girl raced towards the dunes, the hot sand burning her feet. She knew safety was as far from this place as possible. as she ran past structures in silence, Cyer was still dying, after about five minutes of running they were almost out of the village, Now met with a final wave of guards seven of them.

The girl put Cyer down in the shade stepping in it as well, the sands under the shade was cool. Of the seven who hindered their path, four charged at the girl while 3 cast spells, the spells struck instantly, causing both Cyer and the girl's entire body to be covered with cuts, screaming in agony the girl jumped back colliding with the wall of the building that cast the shade. Bewildered, she had forgotten her surroundings, the men who charged swung at her, easily evaded they ended up hitting Cyer, who bled while unconscious, the girl finally retaliated grabbing onto two of the four within her range but before she could get a good grip, they backed up their skin being ripped off as they did. The girl's hand had transfigured into claws, without pause she jumped sideways at yet another opponent while dogging a magic strike that made a crater in the wall next to them.

The one she jumped towards brought his sword between them, the girl unable to avoid contact managed to slip sideways barely. The sword cut into her arm, not letting up in her attack she kicked at the legs of the man form the ground.

A clean hit, but before she could jump him the other three attacked her from behind. Instinctively dogging. The girl managed to get some distance between her and her attackers, she stood there hopeless. Noticing from the corner of her eyes, the mages who were at a distance chanting away.

The swords men regrouped.

As despair began to set, she saw one of the four bring up his sword in front of his face blocking a blade. It was Cyer, he had come to, but still couldn't move, properly.

"Girl," he breathed with difficulty," you don't always have to fight to win" he said as he crushed a ball in his hand which caused a small explosion causing Cyer's hand to be badly wounded but also raising a smoke screen.

Without delay the girl caught on, picking up Cyer and fleeing the scene, Moments later the smoke screen was cleared by the three mages, only to find the red sand that had soaked Cyer's blood remain where the prisoners stood.

They were in a cool cave, Cyer was unconscious again and was running a fever, the poison killing him from the inside, the girl was looking at him, "Human eh, this one looked different though, smells delicious too," she said as she licked Cyer's badly wounded hand. As she cleaned the blood Cyer's wounds also healed up,

"Wow he tastes nice... Nyaow" the girl purred like a cat immediately bringing her hand to cover her mouth, red in the face, looking around, then she proceeded to lick clean all the major wounds on Cyer's body, his shoulder his side and finally his Cheek, but Cyer was still unconscious and dying.

"He is poisoned" she thought aloud as she picked him up brought his face closer to hers, she kissed him.

"I know this might seem disgusting human but be thankful my kind's saliva has healing abilities ... "She voiced as if to ease her own thoughts, she continued for a while, more time than she intended before letting go, again surprised by her own actions, she shook her head. "What has gotten into me...?"

Sometime later, Cyer woke up indeed, feeling much better... His fever down, his paralysis gone, his wounds healed... The red-haired girl was next to him licking at her own wounds. As Cyer got up she looked at him,

"Human consider my debt repaid," she said as she got up," if I were you, I would get as far away from this wretched place as soon possible, if you want you can come with me" the girl added the last part in a soft voice...

"I would love to do that, but I still have a friend who I need to save," Cyer commented

"You intend to go back there?"

"Yes..."

"Suite yourself, my debt has been repaid, if you want to waste your life go ahead, " she said walking towards the exit, she herself in thought.

"Thank you, young miss, but I have a question to ask"

"If it's my name you want to know, I am called Isis,"

"No miss Isis, I wanted to ask if you knew a person named Setna, by the way I am Cyer"

"Setna is my aunt... I was looking for her when I was caught... How do you know of her" She said raising an eyebrow.

"Setna was a companion of my Master, you won't find her in these lands, my best guess is the place marked in this map," Cyer took out a map from the assassin's garb he still donned.

"Take it, I am going there as well after I finish here, and I have already memorized the location"

"in any case, I hope we meet again human, ... I mean Cyer, if you live long enough that is..." Isis said blushing lightly, as she accepted the map and walked out after a short bow.

Cyer shook his head, somehow, he was alive.

"Now to save Kai."

…

Kai had been walking for a few hours in pursuit of the crystal, the dessert was as unforgiving as ever and soon enough the adrenaline that had induced him to go for this trip started to faultier so that the exhaustion began to catch up with him.

He walked, forcing one step after the other, only looking at his compass, it was near dawn when he lost consciousness.

...

His eyes opened in what seemed like an underground cave, the light of the sun had fought its ways down here as well, he had fallen into this hole without knowing. He tried to get up only to realize his foot was sprained, still managing somehow Kai made his way deeper in. The cave was barely specious enough to allow him to walk. The air, hard to breathe almost suffocating.

Soon the passage became so narrow that it forced Kai to crawl through, and then, abruptly it was as if he had entered a giant hall.

It was dark but there were luminescent gemstones all around, he found himself inside what appeared to be a dome. Despite the doom being deep underground, the air had gotten much easier to breathe. Kai noticed a stream passing through, and strange inscriptions that covered the circumference of the space.

Too tired to be astonished Kai went straight towards the brightest Jewel, which coincidently was also the smallest, sitting on a stone pedestal, beckoning to be removed. Kai realized immediately that it would set off some sort of trap, but still proceeded to take the Jewel, as soon as Kai did, the entire area began to shake.

Kai heard a roar, quickly running towards one side of the space, Kai saw the earth tear open as a giant form flapped its way into the room. It became obvious that the domed structure was designed for the creature. The giant guardian that looked reptilian looked across and soon found Kai by a wall. With an ear-piercing roar, it charged towards him.

Kai managed to jump to one side, slipping but still managing to doge the charge, causing a stone slide in the process.

A boulder directly hit the charging creature. Shaking its head in pain the creature collided with a wall only to be entrapped beneath the rockslide. As the entire structure began to crumble, Kai saw his chance and climbed out towards the sky that had just became visible, retreating as far away from the angry roars as he could.

...

Ken was flying fast, in his humanoid form, speeding through the sky returning from having gotten Delilah to the wolves, he could sense Kai was in danger.