I’m unable to sleep despite myself. Flynn reassures me that I’ve made the best choice given the information I had but I’m not sure.

It’s just this past year of traveling the eastern lands per your request has been draining my spirit as well as my mind. Though they don’t move as they use to the empire is back perhaps stronger than ever and I don’t just mean their military might. People are flocking to them of their own volition-and though it hurts for me to say I cannot fault them.

I once thought that our public declaration of peace with the Golden dragon empire was a clever one, that we somehow outsmarted this new empire by using its now new worry with its image against it. But now I've traveled there lands they've taken I’m really beginning to wonder, are we the ones who have been ployed?

Our allies are growing less as they switch sides to get better trade and protection from the demons. As we shrink back to our main lands the dragons spread their wings under the guise of fair and friendly trade. It's subtle but the winds are changing.

Is it war? Is that what's worried you enough to send me eastward?

Perhaps I’m overthinking things, that grave face you showed me as I left along with me now having no leads to go after has left me uneasy.

I just… wish I could talk to you right now.

Sophie - July 15th, 2764

Andrew

The two of them sprint down the spiraling staircase, their long steps covering five steps per stride with fluid ease. With descending leaps and bounds they soon reached the floor that Natalie said she saw the kids on.

Having pushed through the single fire door, Andrew on Natalie's silent command went onto his tip-toes as they tread in carefully down the empty hallway. Taking a right down its darkened path Natalie again went even slower, lighter.

Andrew, who followed suit, did what he could to match her strides, willing himself to be quiet they reach a corner where Natalie kneeled down softly behind the wall.

She looked back at Andrew with a face that told him this-is-it. Nodding in understanding he reaches out for his trusty sword on his back and ever so gently pulls it out of its belt holder.

A dark mist began to imitate over his body like a second layer of skin. When in high-pressure situations Andrew always felt naked, crippled even when he was not gripping the handle of his father's sword. Feeling as if he had gotten his limb back his persona was posited and deadly focused on the task at hand. Natalie seeing this lifted up two fingers which earned her a narrow frown and glare from the dark knight.

Two again? Maybe I'm too amped up for this. Andrew thought to himself.

Seeing that he understood her sign Natalie turned back around to look at their obstacles. They’d have guns like there was little chance of catching them then unawares. It was troubling, but as long as he kept his focus on maintaining his knight's armor and closed the gap for a swift strike. That being said he’d rather not allow a bullet to strike him. Not that it will come to that, in fact knowing Natalie it may get taken care of before he got in range to attack.

Armed with thermal goggles, anything they did now will trigger a reaction. Bullets will fly no matter how they approach this. But it had to be done. For just beyond them, just behind the door lay the cells with the children they have come here for. Their goal was just within reach.

She looks back around to Andrew one last time. Her demeanor turning cold and poised she gave the signal. Kicking off the corner she was quickly followed by Andrew.

He saw two men standing on either end as expected, anticipating the gunfire he narrowed his eyes as their nozzles flashed vibrant colors of red and yellow through the goggles. The sound of it roared down the halls and drowned out Andrew's battle cry. Natalie ran in an evasive maneuver as she closed the gap to the man on the right.

Andrew swiped his sword to and fro, the bullets deflecting off his weapon's face like hard-thrown pebbles. However, with the goggles on he found the lofty timing required to pull off such a feat more trying. Thankfully the knight's armor that shrouded him deflected the three metal projectiles that he failed to parry.

Just then however Natalie jolted back in a sloppy fashion losing her evasive flow. Hearing her suppressed grunt through the deafening chug of magazine clips being emptied Andrew looked over his shoulder to see droplets of yellow liquid ooze off her shoulder thanks to the goggles. As she reached out to her wounded arm with her other hand Andrew’s blood began to boil. He turned back to his targets, the click, click of empty magazines made it look as if his death glare depleted their ammo.

With their stances withdrawn one of the men pulled out another magazine in a blind struggle to reload. With his hands deft, however, he made mistakes as he hurried himself to reload. Fatal ones that Andrew had no intention of giving him the chance to amend.

His body low and eyes center he kicks off the ground, concrete cracking below him as he made the colossal stride. It was then however when he noticed the other man to his right with a more level head, he’d already abandoned his automatic rifle and pulled out a handgun from its holster before aiming down his sights.

In mid-flight, Andrew shifted to his right to trade targets. With his sword tip pointed to the armed man he rammed it into him with an explosive thrust, black mist trails off his blade as it marks its path beyond the man pinning him up against the wall.

Passes through the solid plaster of the wall the sword flickers a spark before grinding to a halt, the armed man in a knee-jerk reaction to the mortal wound fires off a tremoring shot before falling limp.

Wasting no time Andrew pulls his blade out of the first to turn to the second, organs and bones scratching and shifting in the process. Before he could attack him however Natalie came plowing into the last man with a double knee to his gut. With intense bolts of electricity behind her strike, sending herself and the man crashing against the wall he coughs out blood, Andrew was sure he heard a cuffney of cracks coming from his chest on impact.

Perhaps because of adrenalin and thick body armor-or a preconceived sense of pride but despite the blow, the armed man did not pass out. That rebellious resistance however was snuffed out as he gazed into Natalie’s eyes. Like an overcharged lightbulb on the brink of exploding seizure, she began to spark alight with powerful pulses of electricity as she leaped back, grabbed the man by his underarms, and like a sack of potatoes tossed him over her shoulder pitching her backside downward and slamming him deep into the cold cement earth with all her might.

The man crashed into the ground with a loud snapping thud only masked out partly by the sparks of electricity violently dancing around Natalie. With a broken back and likely a damaged spine, the man was perhaps beyond saving. Rather ironic Andrew thought.

Being denied the cathartic release of getting the man who shot Natalie, Andrew clenched his sword in a bit of frustration before he slowly placed it back in its case. He looked up at the lightning thief to see if she was ok, however, she seemed more angry than hurt. Blinking away the moot conflict Andrew steps out of fighting mode and right into one of concern for his partner. Although she looked ok, something about how she fought bothered him.

Just then he got a better look at the trail of blood on her wounded shoulder, his worry turned back into anger he eyed her directly, the goggles highlighting her face with reds and whites. No matter how much Andrew recall's her current outcome or how many excuses he makes for how she got hit, it all concluded that her fighting sense and reactions were sloppy at best.

"Why didn't you use your wings to protect yourself?! Or zapped them from a long distance with thunder?! "Andrew demanded.

Natalie just looks at him blankly. Seeing that this was getting him nowhere he sighed and moved closer towards Natalie to investigate her shoulder. The wound was deep and the bullet was still lodged within her flesh. Her wounded arm twitched and as nerves were damaged, her arm hung heavily by her side due to the pain.

"We need to get that out and-" Before Andrew could finish Natalie took her finger from her other arm and pulled out the bullet with their tips as if it was a bothersome needle before dropping it on the floor with a slight clang.

Andrew fell silent as he witnessed the open wound gradually close up and heal in a matter of seconds. With the wound closed, Natalie lets out a low sigh as she tests her fingers by opening and closing her palm.

This was not the first time Andrew saw such Natalie heal from a wound like this. Even so, it was something that he’d doubt he’ll ever get used to. Natalie’s lip twitched up in uncertainty at his reaction. Feeling a little silly Andrew stepped back giving her some space whilst he scratched his head in a dull fashion. With him out of the way Natalie now looked onwards at the door.

Her hand gently turning the handle she slowly made her way into the room. The sound of silent whimpering and sniffing leaked out of the half-open door.

Inside, sees the eight children all split equally into four cells. Half of them were already awake from the sleeping gas and likely the gunfire that just took place in the hall.

There was a sense of frozen apprehension in their eyes as Natalie and Andrew slowly explored the room. Their trembling was hard to miss Thanks to how the thermal goggles highlighted their bodies in warm colors in contrast to the room around them.

“A-are you, going to get us out?” One boy, perhaps the oldest asked carefully as he slowly rose onto his feet.

The other three girls and five boys all also began getting to their feet as if to mimic the eldest child. Andrew noted one boy who was perhaps around six take a long look at his sword and then at his face as if trying to piece together a puzzle.

 

“Are you hunters,” he said.

“Did... Daddy send you?” another one picked up. It was a blond boy with straight-laced hair who had boogie running halfway down his lip.

‘Send me?’ guess his father is a traveling merchant or someone with the funds to afford hunters for this. Andrew thought.

“No, but we-” Andrew began before being interrupted by perhaps the oldest girl in the group of kids.

“-But your knights right?! That means you've been sent here to rescue!” she exclaimed, hands tightening on the bars as she pushed her face up towards it.

By then all the other kids began exclaiming and asking their own questions with vigor and hope. ‘Are my parents back home,’ ‘Their kids too so we can trust them,’ and ‘can you help us out,’ they're just the few he caught. Worried that the people next door will hear Andrew was about to put his finger to his lips to get them to fall silent until Natalie placed her hand in front of him making Andrew pause.

“The people on this floor have left,” she mumbled.

Dropping his hand Andrew visibly relaxed to the news but something about that seemed to trouble Natalie. It took the silent sobbing of the now hopeful children for Natalie to pull her eyes away from the room where the lab apparently was.

All of them looked hopeful and away from what they came to do, all except for one little girl. A ninth child, sitting alone in a cell at the end of the room. Although Andrew could not make out colors with the goggles on the woolly and more practical wardrobe the girl wore made her stand apart from the other eight less varied and trending clothes. Her sobbing filled with despair and regret as if she had long given up hope of ever being rescued. Her knees tucked over her face she did not pay any mind to the presence of Natalie and himself even when the other stored. Natalie walked towards the crying girl over the rising hopeful and vocal kids before her as if being tugged forth by an invisible string. Even Andrew had to admit, there was an odd pulling to her, something beyond her different reaction to them entering the room.

It was... hard for him to explain. Pulling himself out of it, he made a mental count of the children including the one Natalie was drawn to.

"There are nine of them," Andrew whispered behind Natalie. “That’s more than what you saw.”

 

The sobbing girl finally removed her face from her knees to look up and see who's entered the room. Meeting Natalies eyes they looked at another, an unsaid understanding moved between the two, minutes of words compressed into a pained expression of sympathy and then a look of determination from Natalie. Suddenly the girl stopped crying, blinking the last of the rolling tears she looked at Natalie in a daze. Finally, Natalie reached out her hand through the bar.

The little girl slid further back into the cave in reflex, still a bit uncertain. Analyzing the situation she locked her eyes with Natalie's extended hand. Natalie remained there not daring to move; she showed her empty palm to her in hopes that she accepted her comfort.

Her eyes were soft, but still determined.

The little girl carefully moved forward and reached out for Natalie's hand which she then held onto. Without words, they reached an understanding.

“Sir knight the keys! It’s on that man over there. He’s the one that's locked as in here!” one of the drizzles of snot said pointing to one of the guards he and Natalie took out.

Andrew seeing it nodded his head before looking back to Natalie who was still holding onto the little girl's hand. Grabbing the keys chained on the dead man's waist Andrew proceeded to free the children leaving Natalie to unlock the last one for the girl that she was holding the hand of.

"We somehow got here without alerting the whole building, if we have not already done that with all the shouting I mean." He said half sarstacily.

"We should be fine for a moment," Natalie replied, the little girl in vibrant clothing edged up to her once out of the cage before latching onto Natalie's tracksuit bottoms.

This seemed to soften Natalie’s features as she looked down at her. However, those features hardened when her purple eyes looked towards the other door to the left of the one they just entered. If a look could shed leaves off a tree or freeze a tidal wave still it would have been that look Natalie gave to whatever she saw happening beyond that door.

This is not good.

“We save them before we tear the roots, remember?” he said carefully.

Heaving a breath Natalie broke her glare at whatever she was pointing it to.

"I know, it’s just," Natalie said turning around to the walls and double doors her demeanor stiffened.

"Somethings wrong," She mumbled to herself.

Andrew found himself pondering on her last words. Kids shouting, and the gunfire just a moment ago with no visible notice. She was right. She’d just said so earlier, that the men next door were no longer there. It was like there was a storm brewing over the next horizon and they just could not see it.

Whatever is going on, we still need to get out of here and fast.

“Cut me out one of them!” the eldest-looking girl said, pulling Andrew from his thoughts blinking in confusion.

She was pointing at the bar on the cell she was just freed from.

“You can cut it with your power right? I can use knight's armor too if you give me that, I tried.”

There was a kind of intensity to her look, like if he said no then she would have tried yanking the bar off herself.

“You want to fight that badly?” Andrew asked.

The intense look broke into one of widened uncertainty.

“It’s just...” she trailed off.

“But you were too scared to do it. You said so yourself,” the oldest boy among them said.

“And so were you!” she snapped. “I just was not ready! But now that I'm calmer I feel I can do it.” The girl snapped.

Andrew who was hoping to be halfway out of here by now simply glared at them. They were in a tight spot, but he knew the benefit of having them able to protect themselves. Still, the thought of them fighting…

The girl must have seen the conflict in her face because her eyes widened in shock.

“It’s just for protection-for me and the others since mothers not here and I'm the oldest I-”

“-You promise not to be reckless,” Andrew asked, his tone subdued.

In truth, he cut in more so to stop him from thinking about the gunshots out in the forest than anything else. With glistening tears falling from in the corners of her pleading eyes only struck home, even more, the weight of the situation.

Seeing the logic in her words he sighed as he took hold of his blade and tapped into his inner energy allowing the cool shroud of his dark knight powers to layer over him and the blade. Mumbles of surprise and uncertain faces reflected back to him at the display.

“Who else has been trained?” he asked. Four hands went up.

He then looked at Natalie now had the ninth child with the native clothes latching onto her hand for comfort. Paying the girl no mind Natalie looked up at Andrew's question.

“It will be a comfort for them if anything else,” Andrew shrugged.

Natalie nodded in agreement. Nodding back Andrew turned around to the bars of the cage, drew in the void-like sensation of his dark knight's armor. But before he could cut the bars however Andrew was interrupted by the voice of the girl that was latching onto Natalie’s hand.

She sounded a bit horsted and shaken like any child would in this situation, however, she'd just spoken in a tong that they did not understand. A little surprised Natalie's eyes narrowed in on her features and voice as if trying to un-code their meaning. It was odd, to say the least. Her voice was shaky but pure like any child's voice her age.

Seemingly unable to grasp anything Natalie blinked as she tightened her grip on the girl's hand.

"We will get you out of here. I promise," she said.

Sighing deeply Andrew shook his head slowly.

Turning back to the bars he and proceeded to cut a vertical slice severing the front of the cage. An object coated in knights' armor made short work on objects without.

Welp, she's gone and said it now, he thought to himself.

~#~

With all of them assembled they took the goggles off the two guards they took down and gave them to the two oldest kids in the group who then, in turn, formed a chain of held hands with the others who had no goggles. Hands gripping the three-foot pole they followed Natalie and Andrew’s six is sure to keep pace with their two chains of four as they ran down the echoing corridors of bending hallways. With his hands-free Andrew took a hold of his sword in both a tight grip, with little to go by on the going on; upon their current floor, Andrew looked to Natalie's reaction as a compass. She had cautioned stealth at first when the only footsteps they could hear were their own, but just as Andrew began hearing other voices up in the far distance Natalie told them to pick up the pace soon after.

 

The footfall reverberated over the halls to the point that hearing anything beyond them was hard. Natalie's form was both low and steady despite the clear worry that radiates off of her posture. It was partly because she was still holding the hand of the ninth child, the one who spoke a different language. The other reason was that the other children would lag behind otherwise. Even so, Andrew did his best to stay somewhat in the middle just to be sure none of them tripped and got left behind from the running chains they were set in. Natalie's choice of path to take on every fork was chaotic to Andrew’s eyes. A right at first only to follow it off with another two right’s and then left. There was one occasion where Andrew could just make out the stairwell but just as he and the others were making their way up to it Natalie suddenly pivoted around and ordered everyone to run back as fast as they could. He took the rear by then even though his instincts were telling him to rush them back around the corner faster before he found his back as a shooting target.

No sooner had reached the corner had the door they were heading towards burst open. Gathered by the reaction the people who entered the floor knew where they were going and that time was of the essence to get to it. Were they after them? It was possible. Thankfully the multitude of heavy boots came skimping and clambering away from their location, racing down a hallway further off to the left. They were likely going straight for the cages. This was bad.

Natalie’s hand signaling for them to move on pulled his attention to the distant springing of heavy boots. Approaching the stairwell door once again they entered it and began their ascent up to it. No sooner had they reached the third flight however Natalie cursed under her breath before crashing into the next stairwell exit. Echoes from above and below reached Andrew’s ear just as he came out of the stairwell and into the hallway.

 

Natalie who said nothing simply continued running whilst looking around frantically. Unable to take the suspense from her reactions anymore Andrew ran up beside her.

“So what’s the verdict? Have we shaken them or what?”

Natalie's face grimaced as she shook her head.

“This doesn't make no sense,” she said almost to herself.

“What does not make any sense?”

“Everyone is rushing through the stairwells, but besides one group none of them have gone to the floor where the two bodies are. They-” she trailed off as she skidded to a complete halt.

Taken by surprise then Andrew stammered back, the panting kids almost came crashing into her back.

“What now!?” Andrew asked forcefully. Was he unnerved?

"They know where we are! They're coming to take them!" Natalie turned around to shout back at him, she was panicked too. This was bad.

Spitting profanities in his head Andrew turned to the two eldest girls and boy of leading the link chain of four kids each before looking back ahead of him. Seeing two crates just before the next turning he looked back to them.

"You can use your knight's armor now! But remain by that corner and stay there!" He ordered.

Nodding stiffly, the eldest girl gritted her teeth as she taped into the will of the planet, a faint glow of yellow began to build and envelop her like glowing smoke coming out of her pores.

Flame knight. Andrew could feel the radiant will of her knight's armor, there was no doubt.

However, no sooner did it appear it faded like a blown-out candle. Tears of frustration began staining the eldest girls' faces. She was the one that had demanded that they arm them, the one who said she felt she failed everyone by being unable to use her knight's armor when they were on the run from the demons.

The other younger kids were holding on to her other free hand frozen in fear as they sensed the tensions sharply rising. The eldest amounts them had failed to rise to the occasion, and she knew this. Andrew had seen this scene before, in a lot of ways he felt sorry for them, but.

“Get moving!” he ordered snapping them out of their trance.

The eldest boy who was leading the other chain of kids was already glowing white, it was not as striking as the girls but still even with the thermal goggles on Andrew could tell that he had activated his knight’s armor. It felt straightforward but stable like earth. As he led the others to the crates Andrew readjusted the grip on his sword as he heard the sprinting footsteps coming up behind them.

With the last of them out of sight, Andrew allowed himself to take them out of mind for a moment. As to better handle what’s to come.

"They are coming around the corner!" Natalie said looking through the walls at their movement.

Natalie summons her dark wings leaving small confetti of feathers that came up purple on his thermal goggles. Her eyes like a thunder clap’s made manifest.

"Primitive strike?" Andrew asked.

Natalie nodded as she leaped around the corner with Andrew followed suit.

As he sprinted up alongside Andrew gritted his teeth. Natalie, who was already looking at the first man through the corner of the wall intercepted him with a running straight punch the moment his cheek peeked out of the corner. Not having the foresight like Natalie Andrew was caught a little by surprise like the rest of the armed men but not bad. With Natalie bounding off the other end of the wall with flashes and sparks Andrew went to cutting down the closest man before him who’s recovered from the shock just enough to raise up his weapon.

Impaling him Andrew winced at the flashes from Natalie’s strikes through left after images through the thermal goggle, it was bad enough that Andrew felt a bit disoriented from the sight of it. The goggles were great for seeing in the dark but any light that hit them seemed more potent than without. Luckily the other six or so men were just as stunned by the flash of sparks by Natalie's attacks and so Andrew chucked on.

Following through from the first kill Andrew slid in low with a strike cutting through the man's thigh, the man cried in pain before Andrew silenced him by slashing through half his neck with a follow up just as he fell to his knees. He stammered a guggled cough before falling down lifeless. Gunfire came fractions later but their aim was less true than the two men he confronted to get the kids likely thanks to Natalie and the simple fact that now that the two of them were among them they risked shooting their own comrade if they were reckless.

Before they could recover Andrew swoops in low towards the next two men closest to him, stepping in with his quickest over and under head slash in unison he cut both men through their chest and neck respectively before he wound up behind them, a trail of dark light left a path where his blade traveled. The first simply fell to his knees whilst the second gripped his neck as he googled his last breath.

More lightning strikes came zapping past and hitting the last two before Natalie herself came leaping out of the air with a falling ax kick to the fifth man’s helmet which she then transformed into a roundhouse kick to the mans now bowing head. A jolt of thunder exploded from the impact. Predicting this Andrew momterly shut his eyes before the strike landed leaving him dazed by the blinding light it gave. The last man not privy to this stumbled back from the shock, it was his last folly. Running him in through the side of his chest Andrew felt the man’s chest expand in shock from cold enhanced steel penetrating his ribs before he fell to a stoop, never to rise again.

As he pulled out his blade Andrew was about to relax until he hears a scream coming from all the way on the other end. Demands to put down their weapons and stop running followed soon after.

They’d found them! Andrew panicked.

Worried for the well-being of the kids Andrew ran. Counting all nine of the children running towards him, he sees two men making their way around the corner towards them. Andrew jumped over them praying he will make it on time there.

Bullets went flying, cries and screams from the kids bellowed from behind him, blocking the few that he was able to and unable to look back to see whether he failed to deflect had struck anyone and Andrew clenched his jaw in frustration. With his weapon empty the man ducked behind the crate that Andrew had ordered the kids behind before they came. It was made of solid metal, a decent cover for any conventional weapon or sword. Andrew, not fazed by this, however, took his sword into a two-handed grip and channeled his dark energy that was around his body more so into his blade increasing its potency. Stepping on top of the box he pulled down his sword hard and heavy. Unleashing a crescent slash the sword painted a pure black arc of energy trail behind him and along its path cutting through the box, like straw to a scythe the armed man was slashed through along with it.

Around the same time, Natalie had charged into the last men. Grabbing his face and slamming it into the wall with a great force she gripped onto his skull with immense force, his hard helmet being his only salvation. Channeling an electric current through her arm she fed him the vivid and violent shock until his arms and legs no longer twitch, steam was forming off his helmet.

Natalie finally loosened her tight grip letting the man slide off the wall like a swatted fly. Dizzily stepping back a few paces however she un-summoned her wings and began to pant.

Andrew saw that the battle was now truly over and taking a breather himself soon turned around to look back at the children in hopes that they were not hurt in the crossfire. He could not see them, having already run around the corner that he and Natalie intercepted the first group of armed men his legs moved on their own accord to see them.

Thankfully they were all ok, except… the eldest girl was glowing an almost sun-like white according to his thermal goggles. A lot like the times she tried and failed but this time the warm glow remained stable, he saw one other kid holding his and as if he held it near a fire too long. Pulling up his goggles Andrew sees the yellow glowing light like flames enveloping the girl, its radiant light made things fairly visible in the darkroom around her.

She was apologizing to the kid with the runny nose, Tien was his name and was about to inspect the hand he was holding back until she recalled the heated glow around her and thought better of it. The ninth child had slipped past the other kids and Andrew, he was about to stop him but seeing as she was heading towards Natalie he paid her no mind. Looks like she managed to pull off putting up her knight's armor and for Tien’s hand hurt in the process. Besides the slight guilt of hurting her friend, the girl Walta was what they called her seemed happy.

Andrew was happy for her. Having seen someone fail at maintaining their knight's armor he could imagine the number of things she went through just to gain it. Obtaining knights' armor was hard and flame knights had it the hardest.

Leaving them all there to talk amongst themselves Andrew slid his goggles back on to look back down the hall where he’d left Natalie. When he found her sliding down the wall in a drained stoop with the ninth child saying something in distress in another tongue, however, Andrew’s heart began to sink into his gut.