The pasts and memories shattered apart like crystal glasses when their eyes met again. With the illusions and sceneries gone, they return to reality upon the frozen battlefield. Ralph was silent for a very long while. Seeing Kanitha's past in person like this brought not only understanding to her values, but the powerful flows of emotion lingers in his mind. It was the helpless sorrow felt by the six-years old girl that shocked him most. Did Kanitha feel like this all the time? It was a tiring and dragging feeling that emptied him, however, it is familiar in some way.
He closes his eyes for a brief second. For once, it wasn't blood and death that he saw. A face, hidden behind a beaded crown, his body wrapped in golden silk robes, his gray, merciless eyes that always turns upon Ralph with a flash of warmth.
He recognizes this figure as his father. His birth father.
Snapping open his eyes, he shook the memory back out of his mind. Why is he thinking about that?
Looking back at Kanitha, he realizes that, all along, she was the one that is actually lost. Constantly on the run, always struggling to live till the next day.
Slowly, he bent forward, catching her figure in his arms.
"I will be there," he begins. Kanitha did not reply, he continued after a pause. "Eve would be there. Cecilia would be there. You have friends now, friends who would die for you. But will you accept us? I'm sorry I didn't change earlier, but I hope I'm not too late."
Her body tensed in his arms. Slowly, the tenseness transforms into shivering. She slumped forward as far as her chained arms allowed her to, pressing her watery face into Ralph's chest.
Monk watched in silence as she wept and wailed, her voice muffled by Ralph's body. A pain shot through his body, bringing up a mouthful of blood. He stared at his blood-sprayed chest, knowing that he didn't have much time left. He sincerely hoped Kanitha had finally found her belonging that would put an end to the three centuries of wandering, having, and losing. He felt his power weakening. He couldn't keep the time stopped longer.
"Don't... Lie to me," Kanitha snivels silently.
"Never." Ralph whispered. The moment their foreheads touched, the time resumed.
Cecilia's blade sliced through her opponent's skin. Eve's screens cuts through Abhijar's clothes. Paulie resumes to his attack mode. Ralph casted Kanitha one last glance, then flipped back into the battlefield, spreading his virus onto the oncoming opponents.
But as Abhijar smashes Eve away with his hammer, he slams a sword down towards Kanitha's neck, it went through her skin and cut into the wooden pillar behind.
Everyone except for Monk and Ralph at the battleground stopped at this, watching intensively for what was happeing.
A smile stretched across Abhijar's face, but it soon disappeared.
Kanitha's liquefied skin mended itself back together. Narrowing her eyes. Her whole body was liquefied and instantly freed from the ropes and chains. Her pillar of water shot right up into the air and crashed down into the middle of the battlefield beside Ralph.
The water from the ground twisted and swirled up into her shape and solidified. She breathed out a long sigh and turned to look at Ralph.
"Thank you." She smiled.
"You're coming back?" Ralph raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah," Kanitha nodded. "So let's get out of here."
Ralph grins. He took a deep breath and turned to the others. "Listen up!" He yelled. "Retreat!"
"Finally," Paulie muttered a complaint.
"Ice head!" Cecilia snapped, kicked away her opponent and began to run towards the shore.
Eve's screens zipped to his ankles and carried him along the battlefield, gladly flying away from the battle.
"Harusin!" Abhijar called. "Don't you care about the deal anymore?"
"Don't call me that," Kanitha growled, turning around to glare at him. "Will you stop hunting them even if I die?"
"I—" he stuttered, blinked, and his face contorted into a rage. "Do you really think you can escape?!" He growled. He opened his arms wide, and two swirling green portals appeared.
He flung one across the air towards Ralph, who quickly dodged aside just as the portal hit the cracking ground. As soon as the blinding portal crashed into the land, the area around them immediately twisted and started swirling towards the portal. A few Noir-Vols that weren't prepared instantly vanished in a gust of blood and flesh.
When the portal faded, what was left was a giant hole on the ground covered in a shower of blood spattered across the ruins.
Ralph gasped at the destruction, punching away a Scars' agent on his way, he grabbed Kanitha and jumped. They crash-landed with Cecilia, who shot three arrows from where she stood, but they all disappeared when they reached where Abhijar stood.
"You guys run!" Ralph shouted. He pushed Eve into Paulie, who joined with the others. Kanitha slipped past him, exchanging a concerning gaze, she also started off on her way to run for the exit.
He turned around to face Abhijar. Biting his lips, he released his Cauchard, carefully avoiding hitting the others with it and directed it through the battlefield straight to its aim.
Ralph's Cauchard swiftly flowed over the battlefield. The Scars who didn't possess Cauchards at a higher level than him immediately collapsed to the ground, eyes rolled back, knocked out.
"Only Midnight?" Abhijar sneered. "That's too weak to be used on us!" He, following Ralph's lead, released his own Cauchard. The agents around him were instantly killed by the shock and the plants were all crippled, curling inwards. Ralph gritted his teeth and tried resisting the strike, but Abhijar's Cauchard was Abyssal.
Ralph choked out a mouthful of blood and began to fall backward, unconscious. The Scars, grasping this chance, lunged at him.
Behind him, almost reaching the gate, Kanitha widened her eyes, and with a scream, she released her own Cauchard. A secret she's been hiding forever. Her Cauchard of the abyssal level crashed into Abhijar's, knocking him out in turn. When she looks back at Ralph, beside him crouched Cecilia who teleported herself just in time.
She grabbed Ralph's arm and teleported again, appearing beside Paulie with a flash, who quickly hurled Ralph up and sprinted for the shoreline.
The Noir-Vols flooded around the port, escaping from the islands as the waves grew stronger. Lucas, amidst his fleeing tribemates, stared at the unconscious figure of Ralph before boarding into a boat.
When Abhijar recovered, he insisted chasing them down, but was stopped by Monk.
"Let them go," he said collectively. "The tsunami is coming. We better leave too."
Abhijar grunted, but still created a portal in front of them and the pair disappeared into it.
YOU ARE READING
Alasla: The New Age
Fantasy"What killed him isn't me. It's the world." Ralph had never asked for much. Not even his own identity. But when his best and only friend got murdered by the man he calls father, he was forced to set off on an expedition to unravel the truth of this...
