Legend Of Pandora

Chapter XIII: Assembly required

"Is Phoenix always like that?" Horace asked. He took a sip from his tea.

"A pacifist? Yes." Wolfe answered. "The obnoxious part is new, though."

Horace laid back on his chair. "Do you think her plan would work?"

"If I did, I would have gone with her." Wolfe replied.

Horace had gotten up. "I suggest I give you a tour around here, as it seems you'll live along us for a while."

"Indeed." Wolfe agreed and followed Horace.

It was night outside. Most of the people were asleep.

"Those are the markets." Horace said as they passed some shelves.

"This is where my daughter sold fruit. She used to go to the forest to pick them up and wash them. She pretty much claimed that forest as her farm."

Wolfe noticed he was talking about her at past tense. "She no longer does that?" he asked.

"My daughter went too far into the forest, Wolfe. The Serpents took her and tortured her before putting a bullet in her face. They brought us her corpse." Horace replied. His smile wore off.

Wolfe did not reply. He tried to bring up another subject.

"What's this?" Wolfe asked, pointing at a large plain field in the middle of the village.

"This is where we train our warriors." Horace explained.

"You have an army?" Wolfe asked.

"Quite a big one, yes." Horace answered. He looked at Wolfe for a few seconds. "I know what you're thinking. I will not send my army to a massacre. It might destroy the Invader creatures, but it will also destroy Horclan*."

"I suppose so, but it means Horclan will save this world." Wolfe replied.

"We are not using my army." Horace repeated.

"Then what do you have an army for if you are too scared to attack?!" Wolfe shouted at him.

"Good night, Wolfe." Horace said as he strided towards his shack.

Wolfe stood at the middle of the training field. He looked at the sky. The moon was directly above him.

* * *

Cloak, Belle, and the rest of the keepers were close to the village.

As they left the Ashforest, Cloak took a last look at the Serpent Stronghold

From afar.

*Horclan – Horace's Bloodmixian clan of the 10 clans.

Though he noticed something quite strange. He saw a few figures running away from the stronghold. They were very far away, but he was sure they were moving.

He cued Belle and the keepers to stop, and they headed to those people. As they got closer, Cloak saw a corpse resting on the ground.

It was a Bloodmixian. She had wings, and red-orange feathers covered her body. She had a bullet wound on her face.

He turned to see the people running. They were Bloodmixians as well. They ran after them, and one of them heard them and turned to see what's behind them.

Cloak recognized the one who turned. It was the Bloodmix who tricked him. The one who had the real box.

"Serpent." She announced and the rest turned to them as well. The ones on the back wanted to attack him, but the girl stopped them.

"Not anymore." Cloak said and dropped his sword.

The girl was confused. "You are the one who tried to take Pandora from us."

"True. It was meant to be redemption for me, but I failed. Now I am Serpent no more." He replied. "My name's Cloak."

"I am Shae. I believe you for now, but we'll keep an eye on you, Cloak." She replied.

"I am Belle. I and the people behind me are the keepers of Pandora." Belle told her.

"Too bad it's already open." Heeshe replied. "I am Shae's brother, Heeshe."

"We got that. And we know how to stop it." Said one of the keepers.

"It can be stopped?" Shae asked, surprised.

"Yes, but not easily." Belle told her. "We would have to get to the spot where it opened."

"With all the invaders there, that's nearly impossible." Shae said. Belle nodded.

"Do you have more people?" Cloak asked Shae.

"All of the Bloodmixians from our village, Foxclan, are dead except of us."

Shae explained, looking at Heeshe, Alfe and the ten other Bloodmixes that survived the brawl.

"So we have a problem." Belle confessed. "We only have less then 40 people to attack an army that grows as we speak."

"Foxclan may be almost extinct, but there are 9 other Bloodmixian clans out there." Heeshe replied. "All we have to do is unite them, and one of us, Wolfe, is already negotiating with the leader of Horclan." He reminded them.

"Then we have to be quick." Cloak replied. "Lead us to Horclan, Heeshe."

* * *

Python woke up where he was before Pandora talked to him in a dream. Inside a mountain of Creatures covering him. Though this time, they were not hostile.

They let him out, and he looked down at his body. Python gasped as he realized he looks like them.

I am one of them now. Python understood.

He felt as if he is in another person's body, though he wasn't. He was taken over, though.

"Hello, Python." Said an ominous voice in his head.

"I am Pandora. I can see and hear everything you do, so don't even try to rebel my army." It whispered to him.

Python was still processing what happened. He agreed to a deal, and now he's under control of some demon. Great, He thought.

"First objective." Said the voice. "Murder the one named Shae."