Angelic Devotion Ch1

[CATS]

Ivan took a running leap and flung himself onto Rakka's back, face-up. The powerful creature barely even noticed as he stretched his lean figure out behind Andra, legs dangling off one of Rakka's flanks, head hanging out over the other. He wove his hands together behind his head to hold it up, then sat up a bit and looked back at the two random mercs.

"Yep, you two are welcome to come along, I don't mind a couple more swords on my side. Do need to make a few ground rules, though. One: That fellow stays away from the girl. Two: You don't expect me, or any of us, to risk our necks for yours. If the shit really hits the fan, it's every man for himself. You two have done nothing to convince me that you're worth sticking around for. Three: You don't mind hoofing it, cause the rides are ours. If you're good with those three things, then I think we'll get along fine, or as close to it as me and an Izu can get, I suppose," Ivan said.

---

A few hours later found Ivan crouched in the bushes, some distance away from the group's campsite. His bow rested calmly in his hands, an arrow already nocked and ready to be fired at a moment's notice. Ivan remained perfectly still. Perfectly alert. Something was here in the woods with him. His eyes scanned slowly across the trees--there! In the blink of an eye, he raised the bow and fired, pegging the source of the rustling with an arrow. The offending rabbit flew back quite a ways and died; Ivan got up, jogged over, de-arrowed the body, and then returned to his hiding spot, adding this rabbit to the two others he'd caught already, along with a couple squirrels. That would have to be good enough for tonight.

As he walked back into the campsite, the merc tossed the dead animals down in front of the fire.

"Alright, fox boy, other random guy whose name I forget, you two are on dinner duty. Cook up this meat however you want, squirrel stew, rabbit bites, mystery-meat-on-a-stick, doesn't matter to me. Impress us with some ancient Izu dishes or something," Ivan said. After that, he turned to look for the other members of the little band. They all appeared to be doing their own things, in their own corners of the campsite. Laterite was using a small tree stump to write a letter; Ivan figured now would be as good a time as any. He walked over and sat down across from the spy.

"Now, about earlier. You know, when you left me to fight five knights all by my lonesome. First off, I could've taken them?"--Ivan paused, drew a curved knife out of his coat, and made a shallow cut on the back of his hand--"Look like blood to you? Looks like blood to me. Much as I wish I wasn't human, I am. I think you also said something about going to gather information? About what? Were you going to find out how to win a 1-on-5 fight against well-trained opponents, then come back and explain it to my corpse? You know I don't like to beat around the bush, so I don't get why you still feel the need to rationalize. You wanted to save your own skin. I know it, you know it.

"What you don't seem to know is that I'm fine with that. Just like me, you're human. You want to live; can't blame you for that, we all do. I've saved myself at someone else's expense more than once. I just need to know what I can expect from you in the future, cause Celist knows I won't be risking my neck for yours if you're not willing to return the favor. So what's the deal gonna be: We going to watch each others' backs, or are we just the same as any other two cutthroats?" Ivan asked.

[Kanami]

Kieru nodded as Laterite suggested heading back to Crestia, it was probably the safest place and she didn't enjoy the thought of going to Rison and Vesarius simply because she didn't feel like traveling to lands she wasn't familiar with. She looked around at the group again. the three mercenaries(?) including Laterite seemed to be close friends, or at least work partners. The other mercenary(Bullet) who'd joined up with them she recognized as the man who'd deprived her of her soup earlier that day. But he didn't seem to mind, either that or he didn't recognize her. Either way there was no need for her to approach the man and risk getting in trouble. She figured she'd found enough trouble today anyway. As for the Izu....? She couldn't quite work out why everyone kept referring to him as Izu perhaps it was his name. Either way everyone seemed to think it was in her best interest to avoid the kitty mask man. While uncertain, she decided she'd trust the judgment of the others and keep her distance.

As the group started moving Kieru's ears caught the sound of Bullets muttering.

Bullet:"Get back at those religious freaks"

She quickly hid herself from Bullets view, or at least as well as she could while being on horseback. His words alone were enough to make any priest tense up but the malice his voice carried made a cold shiver run up her spine. She wondered why everyone wanted to her to keep away from Izu, when this man seemed much more of a threat to her. Apparently the others hadn't heard the mans muttering or had purposely decided to ignore it. Either way, she decided she'd keep her distance from the mad mercenary man.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several Hours later

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kieru rubbed her eyes at the smell of meat. Apparently she'd fallen asleep. Opening one eye wearily she looked around making sure she was a safe distance from the Mercenary and man called Izu, sighing with relief when she spotted both of them on the other side of the fire. The man who'd introduced himself as Laterite to her was talking to one of his friends. Or at least was they were speaking to each other, while the conversation didn't look hostile, it didn't look too friendly either. Deciding she didn't want to interrupt she closed her eyes and listened carefully. Frowning with contempt as the man(Ivan) explained that he couldn't have taken the soldiers.

So Laterite was a liar....

Feeling angry at herself for listening and semi-believing the mans words. Just cause she looked younger then him by (quite) a few years it didn't give him the right to treat her like a kid that needed to be babysitted. She was old enough to be a proper lady after all.

Edited October 5, 2010 by Kanami

[CT075]

Bullet walked behind the others. He was muttering quietly to himself, although he didn't realize it until later. Then he realized that the wyvern was getting a bit too far ahead of him. He ran a little faster to keep it in view, not noticing the little girl (Kieru) tense up.

---- (Later) ----

Bullet sat on the ground leaning against a tree. He didn't feel much like eating. This whole situation reminded him too much of his time with Septian and his boys. That particular venture had started out similar to this. He grabbed the bread he had stolen from the barn and threw it towards the fire before laying on his stomach. He groaned softly and tried to fall asleep.

[SuperFush]

Andra sat down next to the other two mercenaries, sighing. "Come on, Ivan, you know that isn't fair. You know that either of us would stick it out there for you if we were alone, but Laterite wasn't alone. He had Kieru with him, remember? That little girl we were trying to protect? You know, the one sitting right over there?" Andra pointed to the girl. "I can't say I'd have done any different in his situation. She's just a child, doesn't need to be mixed up in this, doesn't deserve it. She shouldn't have been in the fort to begin with. You might not like it, but sometimes doing what's right does have to come before doing what's smart. Laterite was probably just trying to make the kid feel better, anyways. Isn't that right, Laterite?" Andra grinned slightly, winking at his noble friend. That upbringing with a noble family that, as was proper if far too uncommon, actually took their responsibilities far more seriously than their privileges had left a very large mark on him. He'd disagree furiously if someone said that to him, but it was still true.

The smell of cooked meat began to waft from the campfire, reminding Andra that he hadn't eaten in a while. He stood, offering to get food for the others, and walked towards the fire. He stopped, though, and looked at Kieru for a moment. Why was such a small girl in a military fortress like Talgusta, seemingly without any supervision or guardianship? She certainly wasn't an officer's daughter, and she wasn't a military brat either - though just "brat" alone might be more accurate. He shook his head, pushing the thought to the back of his mind as a question for another day.

[CATS]

"Hey, it's not just me he ran away from! Your ass was on the line, too. Might want to think about that," Ivan said as Andra walked away. He then turned back to Laterite. "Anyways, who said we were tryin' to protect a little girl? Must not have gotten that memo. Weird for Andra to think that when you yourself gave different reasons, but whatever. I've got neither the time nor the patience to sit here and talk morals. Laterite, if you want to abandon us in favor of saving innocents--or at least, if you want to tell yourself that's what you're doing, either way--that's well within your rights. I just need to know if I can expect you to keep doing it in the future. I need to know whether or not I'll have your help in any given situation, and you need to know whether or not you'll have mine," Ivan said.

[Purg]

"You will have my help, Ivan," he said, closing the letter that was now the furthest thing from his mind, "but only if it can amount to anything. Those knights were all well-trained, well-armored - regular soldiers, unlike what Crestia can offer. My sword arm is nowhere near as strong as a normal mercenary - you should know that my greatest strengths aren't in combat, after all. And even if I were a man as strong as either you or Andra, with the papers and information I'm carrying, I couldn't afford to be caught or killed, without some serious problems developing. You know I can't say more, but you know very well what I'm talking about." He sighed. "Had I known what would have happened... Had I not tried to rescue Kieru, not lived the life I am right now, I would have stood beside you happily, and died. But I can't make that choice freely right now. I won't be able to make that choice until we go to Crestia. If you think it's not worth protecting me when I can't do the same for you... That's fine. You're a smarter man than many give you credit for. If that's the choice you want to make, then I can't question the sense in it."

[Dark Sage]

Taking the dead squirrels and the rabbit, Shizunai cut them open, pulling out the organs and tossed them in the bushes while laying out the furs. As he worked the meat, he reflected on the situation.

"Racism...these people hate me because I'm an Izu..." he said quietly, sticking the rabbit meat on a stick over the fire and waited.

He finally understood why exile was the worst punishment for an Izu. Apparently the Izu had quite an awful reputation in the outside world. Bad enough to be a foreigner, but worse that everyone not only thinks you're a pervert but a pedophile to boot.

He thought about it more after he finished the rabbit meat and held the squirrel meat over the fire. Pedophilia? Ah right. There was a scandal years ago when Lord Zefana was found to have molested children. Worse, Zefana was highly respected. Still, it was unfair for the others to assume he was one because of that.

"Dinner's ready!" he called out, once the squirrels were done.

Edited October 6, 2010 by Yoshimitsu

[CATS]

Ivan nodded and stood up.

"That'll have to be good enough, I guess. As for the me watching your back part of the deal......well, I guess I'll be thinking about that on the way to Crestia. Let's eat."

He took a couple delicious rabbit-and-squirrel-meals expertly prepared by the Izu, conveniently forgot to compliment the man on his cooking, said something about his fox mask instead, and then decided to go to bed. It had been a long day.

[SuperFush]

Andra, being less of a racist dick, at least nodded his thanks to the Izu for cooking. The man might have been making inappropriate advances towards a small child, but at least he was making food, so he got some points there. He ate quickly, because he knew that Ivan would be going to bed as soon as he had finished his food. Luckily, Andra was able to catch his friend's arm just before he turned in for the night.

"Listen," he began. "I can see you're annoyed still. Okay, fine, I can understand why. But, come on. You know that in ordinary times Laterite has got our back. Remember, he always had, ever since we left Schmidt's service. We have to keep trusting him, not only as a comrade, but as our friend. I don't see things working out for us otherwise, you know?"

[CT075]

Bullet rolled over, groaned, and sat up. The smell of meat had awakened him, and it smelled pretty good. He walked over and grabbed one, before sitting down next to the samurai to eat.

"Hey, this is pretty good. What kind of magic did you use on this?"

[Dark Sage]

"I know no magic. Well, I can meditate and strengthen my spirit to harness my chi. It can strengthen my blows or speed me up if I'm calm enough or focused enough or if I meditated. But chi is different from magic," Shizunai explained, taking some of the rabbit meat and took off his mask to eat it, revealing a face completely covered with scars and partially healed burns.

[Purg]

Like his other companions, Laterite ate the meal quietly, away from the two strangers in their midst. He finished up the letter quickly, sealing it using the embers from the fire and a ring he had been given when he left home that bore the seal of the Defauxs. He set it in his bag, along with the other library's worth of pages and notes. As he settled back against the stump he had been using as a table, he grew bored staring into the twilight sky - so, after a moment, he dug back through the bag, this time removing a small, leather-bound sketchbook. Flipping past pages of cities, people, and various other drawings, he settled on a blank page, setting the pencil to it for a moment. He saw shapes form in his mind, settling into place on the empty sheet. It took him a few minutes of concentration, silence during which he stared only at the book, his gaze unbroken by the conversations of his companions. Almost without warning, he began to sketch, movements wide and precise sliding across the page. He wasn't sure how long it took him to finish, but he almost regretted the drawing as soon as it was complete.

The ruins of Talgusta sat before him on the page. Fires raged in the rubble, the forms of men, both soldiers and mercenaries, lay strewn throughout the scene, and in the distance, a regiment of knights, in cruel plate, armed with wicked curved swords and lances, marched in through the destroyed gate. He felt disgusted with himself, thought of tearing the page out, of throwing it into the hot coals, of leaving it with the camp - but he knew that it was his job to record what he saw, and this was, to his knowledge, the most accurate depiction of the fort's destruction. He closed the sketchbook, still annoyed at himself, and decided it would simply be best to get to sleep, settling against the hard stump as comfortably as possible.

[CATS]

"Yeah, I know that. Why do you think I had that little talk with him? If he'd never had my back in the past, I wouldn't have bothered to bring it up, I would've just continued to assume that he was like ninety-nine percent of the mercs in this world. But since he has had my back in the past, and since that has worked out really well for us so far, I felt the need to protect that arrangement when I sensed that it was threatened. We're on the same page here; trust me, I want this to work out just as much as you do, and not just cause it's saved my ass more than once. You two also happen to be among the very few people out there who don't suck, so I'd like for you and Lat to stick around, and I'm going to do what I can to make that happen. Can't speak for Laterite, though.

"And that's pretty much all I have to say about that, so if you wanna talk about it some more, I'll gladly do that with you tomorrow morning. I did get randomly exploded today, so if you don't mind, I'd like to get some rest," Ivan said.

Edited October 6, 2010 by CATS

[CT075]

Bullet had to make an effort not to grimace or pass a comment at the state of his companion's face. Instead, he focused on finishing his meat.

"When I said magic, I was referring to the method you used to cook this. This is amazing. But that's not all that important right now." Bullet leaned back a bit. "So that kind of strength is called chi, is it?" His brow creased. It must be nice to have some kind of extra power to fall back on. All he could do was rely on his brute strength. "Tell me, how exactly did you fare in the battle earlier? I couldn't really see what you were doing, and I was having a rough time."

[SuperFush]

Andra watched as his friend rolled over on his bedroll and pulled the blanket over him. "...I got exploded too..." he muttered as he walked off. He sat next to Laterite as the nobleman spy composed his notes or something like that.

"Pretty standard day, overall.

[Dark Sage]

"The people there were wild, not very well trained, easy to defeat on their own. It's the numbers that they had and their dirty tactics that made things tricky. The leader had an unusual sword as you saw and he took me off guard and cut me a few times. I'm fine, no big deal. Still...I heard that the Granford's were very pious and decent folk, not brutes," Shizunai replied, taking another bite.

"Chi is nothing more than one's own life energy. Anyone can learn how to harness Chi, but it requires years of training, meditation, practice. I was lucky to learn this, as I was raised in a monastery when I was young before I became a samurai but many others haven't been so lucky."

[CT075]

"A monastery, huh? In Izuna, I would guess." Finishing his meat, Bullet tossed the stick he had used as a skewer into the fire. "I was born and raised as a soldier in Granford, but I left to become a mercenary." Bullet's face darkened. "I used to believe the same thing that you just told me, that Granford's people were pious and decent. And I still believe that about most of the commoners. But the church... The Granford church is corrupt." He sighed heavily. "I was part of a mercenary group under the lead of a guy named Septian. A pretty shrewd guy, not unlike our current 'leader' (Ivan)," he said, jerking his thumb at the sleeping mercenary. "We were pretty good. We were better than most of the church's goons, anyway. They called us heretics for not adhering to their standards and rules.. And so, they wiped us out. Put a bounty of twenty-thousand on our heads." He clenched his fist tightly. "I was the only one who survived."

[Purg]

"Perhaps. A bit too much excitement, and more people involved than I think we're used to." He hadn't yet fallen asleep, annoyed at how hard everything on the ground was. Another thing he envied about his companions was their ability to sleep during or around anything, something his time in the courts had taken away from him. He leaned his head back, against the cold wood, to see the stars. So far away, yet so bright...

"I have a favor to ask," he said suddenly. "Thus far today, I've been the one to ride with Kieru. However, tomorrow, I figure that Rakka will be rested enough to fly again. And I know she has trouble carrying two fully grown men, so perhaps... Perhaps you could talk to her, see if she would ride with you." He sighed. "Perhaps I've caused us all sorts of trouble by bringing her with us. Ivan doesn't trust me as much, and if not for Rakka's return, you both would likely be dead. I don't think either of you owe me anything right now, but..." He cursed, an event he tried to keep rare, but it fit the situation quite well. "I'm sorry, Andra. I should've considered the lives of my companions, and not just the duties placed upon me."

[SuperFush]

"You keep up that depressed air and I'll thump you." Andra glanced over at his friend and grinned. "We're still your friends, you know? Ivan'll be over it by tomorrow, and me, well, I didn't mind so much to begin with. As for Rakka being a lucky miracle that saved us, eh, not really. She tends to do that sort of thing."

Andra yawned and laid back staring up at the stars. They weren't quite the stars he knew from his home, of course - as far away from Garius as they were, the starscape was subtly different. He could still recognize several of the old constellations, though. There was the Plough, there was the bull-headed Minotaur. There were the Knights, locked in eternal duel, and there was the Three Foxes frolicking. They were just in slightly different places than he remembered from his youth in the mountains of Garius. Still the same sky, for the most part.

"If you think it'd be better for her to ride today, that's fine. I'll show her the sky. Rakka won't mind the extra weight. Little slip of a girl like her can't weigh much anyways." Andra yawned. Being unconscious was no substitute for real sleep. "Well, it's been an interesting day, but, bed time for me. Night."

He then rolled over and fell asleep.

[Dark Sage]

"I see. I'm very sorry to hear that happened to you.

In Izuna we pray to the Great Wise One and try to emulate his teachings. I have sworn the oaths to be a monk, a vow of poverty, a vow of chastity, and vow of silence in the cloisters, a vow of stability, and a vow of individual liberation. The last one means that I am free to find my own ethical discipline within the tenants of The Great Wise One."

OOC: Yes, this is the equivalent of Buddhism.

[CT075]

"Huh. It must be nice, having a 'greater being' to aspire to. Me, I lost all faith in that kind of stuff after what happened." Bullet yawned, the meat in his belly making him sleepy.

"Maybe we should get some rest. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow."

((Lawl, Buddhism.))

[Kanami]

Kieru watched the opened both her eyes as the last of the embers smoldered out. She'd been awake for awhile now watching the other for any sign of movement, but most seem to be snoring so loudly it reminded her of the mercenaries who'd been sleeping in the mess hall. How they managed to fall asleep was beyond her. She was tired, sure. But her eyes simply refused to sleep, every time the wind blew the tree's around her would shift a bit and it looked as if there was something in the dark watching her. They'd traveled a fair distance from Talgusta but there was no guarantee that soldiers wouldn't still be after them.

As she stood up and quietly dusted herself offshe walked over to Laterite who seemed to have finally settled into slumber. How dare he toss her around like a sack of potatoes? How dare he make decisions for her without consulting her, fly on the wyvern? Who in their right mind would risk taking their two feet off the safety of the ground and fly through the air? But most importantly, how dare he treat her like a child! She was a fully grown lady, a woman. Feeling irritated she was tempted to give the sleeping man a good kick, but decided she'd make him pay another way. Quietly moving over to Laterite's bag she opened it and tried to work out what was of value in the bag. Only to find it full of papers and envelopes.

Deciding that she wouldn't find anything more valuable she grabbed a few paper and stuck them in her pocket scrunching them up in the process. She looked over at the others one more time before facing Laterite and sticking her tongue out at him. This would teach him to treat her like a child, surely. With that she left the small clearing they'd set up camp in. And headed back the way they'd come. Heading to Crestia was all nice and well but she didn't enjoy the idea of being sent to another smelly outpost with more smelly men with smelly water. It was better for her to head to Granford, that's what the smarter people in her church had done, they couldn't be wrong could they?

She plodded along the pathway quietly, it was still dark, but she knew the sun would be peeking over the horizon soon,but more importantly she was sleepy, tired and hungry. Why couldn't those smelly mercenaries have fed her too? Regretting not grabbing some meat earlier she decided she was far enough from the group to not be found and sat down beside a tree and curled up. Maybe leaving them and heading for Granford alone wasn't a good idea? Her vision was getting blurry and she wondered if it was a matter of fatigue, dehydration or a combination of both. Yawning loudly, she looked around at the sound of footsteps, noticing several red blurs heading her way, the armor looked familiar, but she couldn't figure out from where. It probably wasn't important anyway. Closing her eyes and drifting asleep she didn't even stir when she was picked up, nor for the entire journey back to the smoldering Fort.

[Script]

Something was wrong. The beat Hubert's body was dancing for was sending him in circles back towards that nasty burned fort. Something was either very wrong, or very right? Perhaps there was something that hadn't been burned all the way? Ah, yes, that had to be bit! Hubert let out a squeal of affection as he wondered about whatever glorious object he had yet to set ablaze with his wondrous magic. An underground storage, brimming with spears? A forge, that would feel a heat it had not been built to handle? Or perhaps even the greatest of pleasures, a prisoner? Oh happy day that would be! They had stopped financing his research into burn victims because they all ended up dying regardless of whatever Hubert had been trying to cure them with--which was usually more fire. Bah, those fools would learn that the best way to fight fire was fire one day. But until then, Hubert could continue his studies as he went spying. Why, this whole trip was turning out better and better every second! This called for a celebration.

"La la me, la la moo, la la burn, la la scold!" Hubert twirled as graceful as someone as horribly burdened as someone like him could. He held out his hands to the sky above as a small ball of fire rocketed so far above. As Hubert watched his excellence trace the sky again, he wondered what an inferior mage would be feeling right now. They would nearly be exhausted by all the castings that Hubert had done. But he was special, he was not feeling light-headed at all--despite his tripping over nothing--oh no! He was strong--as his pace slowed--vigorous--as he hacked and wheezed--and most of all, not about to pass out--as his vision blacked out for a split second. Yes, he was none of those things and he could easily handle whatever would happen at the fort.

[Fayt Zelpher]

Arias started heading toward the fort. "Blast. Beatrice is going to drive me crazy. I can't keep bailing her out of this. Besides the fact that I've got to get up this blasted early in the morning, she keeps going off, trying to get herself killed. Dang it! I'll give her a piece of my mind after I've saved her again."

Arias kept on, heading toward the fort. He headed over toward the fort, when he stopped to catch his breath. While he did, he heard the sound of steel clashing with steel. Of course, since Arias was no idiot, he realized that this was far too early for training sessions (and that when there are probably 10 people in the fort at most, no imbecile is going to want to exert energy to try to train). He quickly decided that since Beatrice was probably in trouble by now, it was his job to bail her out. After all, you don't save someone's life with the intention of letting that person die the next morning. At least, Arias had enough honor in him to believe this.

He headed up closer. Beatrice was fighting with some knight... or something. Whoever was fighting her was of unquestionable skill and experience. Arias was dismayed - it wasn't likely that Beatrice was going to be able to win this fight... At least not on her own. Arias watched as the knight spoke a few words, then assumed a new, more defensive position and continued the fight.

'Oh blast. It doesn't look like I have any choice in the matter. Much as I'd love to stay hidden, I'm afraid that I have no choice. But wait, I think I know what to do. It's a risk, but this shouldn't be too bad. I'm still a little weaker than I'd like thanks to yesterday, but I suppose that this shouldn't take too much out of me.'

Arias began to chant. All around him, there were the sounds of crackling, mini lightning around him. 'Ah well, this might ruin my cover, but I'm not going to let Beatrice die on me'

All of the sudden, the lightning was channeled into a wave. The next instant, the knight found himself unable to move. "Excellent, it worked. By channeling electricity, I was able to magnetically lock the joints in his armor. I doubt the effects will last for more than a minute or two, but Beatrice is a ferocious lady." He chuckled. "That knight isn't going to be alive when it wears off.

[rn7]

A bright flash entered Beatrice's vision, and in the next moment, the knight had dropped his sword and crunched up like a smashed tin can. Beatrice didn't give a second thought about the miracle electricity from nowhere, and immediately picked up the fallen sword. She jabbed the point right into the frozen knight's neck, then rocked it back and forth to make sure all the blood vessels, muscle, skin, and bones were well-mixed together. The knight fell over like a tree, sword sticking out of his neck pointing skyward. After the loud thump of armor on cold dirt, the atmosphere fell silent.

Beatrice turned to where the lightning had come from, and spotted Arias there.. She gave a grin and thumbs up, then began to head towards her scimitar to pick it back up.

"Nice one, Arias, glad to finally see you woke up!" Beatrice commented smugly. "Next one's on..."

A distinct clanking sound stopped Beatrice mid-sentence. Her eyes flew toward Arias. Behind him was the other knight who had been pinned under the branch. The knight raised his heavy axe up into the air, and then swung it down to strike at Arias. Beatrice acted without thinking. She rushed to Arias's aid, leaving her sword where it was. She dashed past the brush and into Arias's hiding spot. With her left arm she pushed him away, and with her right arm, she raised her armguard to block.

In her haste, she had forgotten the limits of her armguard. The limits of her strength.

It happened in only a few moments, but she felt it as if it lasted for minutes. The armguard bending and creaking under the force of the axe strike, until it finally yielded and shattered. The axe continuing down her arm, ripping away the sleeves on her right side. And then finally, the axe cutting through her forearm, lobbing it off and revealing the true nature of Beatrice's right arm.

Half of her forearm was missing. In its place was a wooden prosthetic encompassing her right hand, wrist, and arm. It was now in splinters, broken and on the ground in pieces. Completely done for.

Beatrice stared wide-eyed and dazed at the broken pieces, as if she didn't truly believe she lost her right arm a second time. She muttered quietly to herself, repeating the words, "my arm, my arm", as if in a dreamlike state. She even felt like crouching down, picking up the individual pieces, and placing them back together. But her disbelief froze her, told her to stop, told her if she did, her left arm might go too.

No, no! Not the left, too! It's mine, it's mine, you can't take it!

Beatrice's thoughts raced. She entered a berserk, paranoid state of mind, beginning to edge off the path of reality. She pounced on the knight next to her, and repeatedly stabbed the wooden splinters of the broken arm into the man's face. The man's attempts to throw Beatrice off of him only resulted in her twisting the broken arm deeper and deeper into the man's face. Eventually, the broken wooden arm detached from Beatrice's body, leaving only a stump there. Beatrice slumped down off of the now disabled knight, her forehead wet with the sweat of a terrifying nightmare.

She stood there standing for a bit, only to collapse down a few moments later, gripping her arm stump. She grit her teeth and tried to stop herself from screaming. Her vision blurred and a sharp stinging tormented her were her arm was. She felt it overwhelm her and knew there was no use fighting it.

The phantom pains were back.