Knights of Lore

chapter 1 - Kariah-Belle Nadire

Sixteen years later.

Kariah-Belle Nadire knew she would have bruises from the monster's giant pitch-black hand squeezing her abdomen. She also would vomit any moment if this monster didn't stop flailing her in every direction.

I still haven't brought that bastard, Memphis, to justice, she thought as an image of a man's jagged grin flashed in her mind. She struggled against the monster's grip with all her might. No way am I dying yet!

  "Guys," she called to her comrades. "Do something already!"

 The humanoid creature roared as it tightened its grip on her, swatting at Lax-Rim, a young redhead with a bright red aura around his person. The young man landed on the side of a building made of chrome-like metal to avoid colliding with Kariah-Belle. He then pounced at the creature, a fierce flame surrounding his fist.

  Lax-Rim, Kariah-Belle's childhood friend, excelled in turning mana into flames and was gifted with magnificent instincts. Sadly, his traits weren't enough to evade the large black blade that speared into him after the monster slipped through his attack. Parts of his crimson armor broke off as he crashed into a building.

   The monster slung Kariah-Belle upward once again, and she fought the urge to throw up. The evil bearer had such a secure grip on her that she would be a bloody mess in its hands if not for the sky-blue mana surrounding her, giving her body superhuman strength and vigor.

   Jet, the team's leader, evaded each of the monster's strikes and leaped from its knee. He spun fast, hitting the creature twice in the abdomen with his green saber. The beast stumbled backward and out of reach.

   Just then, Akio, Kariah-Belle's best friend, launched herself at the evil bearer, her emerald-scaled fist glowing a bright green. The monster yielded its black sword toward her fist. A green explosion ignited upon impact and propelled the monster off balance.

Jet tried a follow-up attack, but the evil bearer was fast to react.

   The world was whizzing by as Kariah-Belle sailed through the air before colliding with Jet. They crashed into each other hard and slammed against one of the chrome-like buildings. They tumbled a bit before sliding to a halt.

   Kariah groaned as sunlight shined down from an opening above. The buildings in this abandoned village were made of chrome-4, one of the eight types of chrome on planet Lore. Most of them hadn't been maintained in years and were corroded.

    The young woman sat up, trying to shake the grogginess from her head. Her body ached and her head pounded, but that didn't stop her from getting to her feet. The blue aura that cloaked her shattered, and she fell back to the ground, breathing heavily.

   A low growl resonated nearby and the young woman sat up in a hurry once again.

   "Darkling!" she shouted at Jet while pointing. The growl turned into a full-on screech as a humanoid, pitch-black monster dashed towards her.

   She threw up her arms, too tired from her shattered mana hull to defend herself from the deformed creature.

The monster wailed in pain, and she opened one eye to peek. Jet had his green blade through its torso, then positioned his sword against its neck. Without her mana hull to track Jet's movements, he was blur to Kariah-Belle when he chopped off its head. Black blood gushed from the darkling and splattered across the ground. The body began to dissipate.