Burst_Swords to the Skies Read online

  At noon, we headed of to that bar. The bar that was attacked by Zeynox.

  The guards opened the doors. Inside, I saw some blood stains and broken stuff.

  "Everyone, split up to search" I said.

  "Roger!"

  I went to the counter. It had some broken glass sprinkled all over the place. I saw that some of the drawers were open.

  I decided to check inside the drawers. I saw that the money wasn't stolen from the place. I wondered "What was his motive?".

  I looked in some more drawers. I saw a bow in a one of them and some arrows in another. They should be for security.

  I opened another drawer. I saw something unexpected inside of it.

  I saw a note that was written by Zeynox.

  "Hey! Check this out!"

  Some people came to look at the note.

  "What is it?" asked Ayla.

  "Here's another note"

  The note had wrote:

  "Dear reader,

  You must be an amazing detective. I'm expecting to meet up with Cel Alt. I'll be waiting at Radiation Sands.

  From, Zeynox"

  He wanted to fight me since the beginning. I still wanted to know his motive.

  XFire 12: More

  The note... the note that I just found. "Radiation Sand...? What does he mean by him waiting there? I guess he wants a fight" I thought.

  "Cel Alt! We have finished searching"

  "Good. We got some information, I guess"

  I took the note and slid it in my pocket. I decided that it was time to leave.

  "Let's head back, we're done here"

  "Roger!"

  We left the bar and headed back to the palace. On the way there, Ayla said "We didn't get much information about Zeynox but we do know where he would be"

  "Yea, I'll have to go there sometime soon"

  When we reached the castle, we were informed about some news.

  "Cel Alt, Ayla. Zeynox has done it again. He has killed everyone in the small village named Ahiya"

  "What?!" I said in shock.

  "He's done it again?! He killed everyone in a village! He's crazy!!!" I thought. If we wanted to try and find him, we had to take the opportunity.

  "Who reported the event?"

  "Zeynox mailed us a letter. It wrote:

  'Hello,

  If you want to find me. I'll be waiting at Ahiya village. They're all dead now.

  From, Zeynox', the letter was sent by a dove"

  "Let's go! Lead the way to that village!" I said.

  "Roger!"

  We ran to the village. I was hoping to get him to surrender, but I was pretty sure that he won't...

  We arrived at the village. I was shocked to see the terrifying sight.

  I saw the bodies of the villagers on the ground. Blood and arrows were everywhere, the blood was the most terrifying thing in sight.

  We entered the village, we were searching for Zeynox. Some of the guards went inside the houses while some stayed by Ayla's side.

  "Ayla, I'll go and check out that big village house over there"

  "But you'll be alone! You might die!"

  "I know, but I won't let others die first"

  "But we might still die if we're alone!"

  "You're still alive. You're the strongest archer here! You should be able to protect yourself"

  "Haaa... Fine"

  "I'll be back in a sec"

  //Ayla's POV//

  Cel entered the house alone. I was scare for both him and myself. Zeynox could appear anytime soon.

  "Phew*!"

  "Ahh"

  "Phew! Phew! Phew!"

  "Gahh! Ughh! Mmnhh!"

  The sounds of arrows. I turned around and saw that all the guards were out. "Huh?!" I said in shock.

  "Phew!!!*"

  "Ughh..."

  I was shot in the shoulder. I fell down. It was no ordinary arrow.

  "Ayla... The best archer in Galaya... Defeated by an arrow I made. The arrow makes the victim's muscles weaken. Making them fall to the ground hopelessly for a few minutes"

  I heard a voice coming from my left. I rolled my eyes to see who it was. I was shocked.

  It was a man who fitted Cel's description of Zeynox. "Z-Ze-Z-Z-Zeynox?!" I thought in fear.

  "I'm Zeynox. The incarnation of strength! I'll use this poison arrow I have here to instantly kill you!"

  He pulled back the string. The poison arrow was ready to be shot at me.

  "Please! Let me live! I don't want to die!!! Please!!!" I thought. I wasn't able to move a muscle, I was so weak.

  "Hahaha... Goodbye"

  "Shewd!!!*"

  XFire 13: Fight

  //Ayla's POV//

  "Shewd!!!*"

  "Guhh..."

  "Phew! Phew! Shewn!*"

  "Guh! Damn it! Stopping shooting!"

  I opened my eyes. I saw Zeynox getting shot and ran away.

  The one shooting him was... Cel. He saved me from the poisonous arrow that Zeynox was about to shoot.

  "Ayla!"

  Cel came to me. He holding his crossbow in his left hand and his sword in his right.

  "Let's get you to safety!"

  He carried me to safety. He placed me behind a house.

  "Hold on!"

  He went off to fight Zeynox. I was worried, but I couldn't do anything to help him. My muscles were still weak. "Only if..." I thought.

  //Cel's POV//

  I went to fight Zeynox. I was worried of Ayla because she got shot. I had to either finish it quickly or run away soon.

  "You came here too, eh? Nice, I could have the fight I wanted earlier than I thought. Come on!" said Zeynox confidently.

  "I wanted to try and end this. Let's do this"

  He tried to shoot with his bow. He missed all of his shots as I got closer.

  I slashed Lucinar at him quickly. He was jumping back to avoid it. I was still trying to hit him.

  He jumped up and over me. He landed behind me, I turned around and started slashing again. He blocked with his bow, it didn't break surprisingly. I continued to try and hit him.

  He jumped further back. He took a lot of arrows. He started to shoot quite quickly for a normal bow. I slashed at every one of his arrows.

  I came close enough to him.

  "Crack!*"

  His bow broke. I came close enough to slice with bow into two. I continued to slash but he dodged every one of them.

  He tried to kick me, I stopped to avoid it. He took out a dagger from his pocket.

  "Shew!*"

  The dagger made a sound as it cuts through the air. He was quick with his dagger. He was slowly making me walk back with his every swing.

  "Tsh*"

  He cut at my thigh. It wasn't fatal, it only hurts a bit. I felt like the battle was taking a long time.

  I jumped over him and went to grab Ayla. I ran away while carrying her.

  "Why did you stop?"

  "You're hurt! I can't let you bleed any more"

  Her shoulder was still bleeding. The arrow was still stuck on her shoulder. I ran as fast as I could to get away.

  "Hey, Cel!!! Why are you going! Are you running away like a coward?!" said Zeynox as he was chasing.

  I didn't want to let her died from his arrow. She still couldn't move her body much. I needed to treat the wound on her shoulder.

  I looked back and saw Zeynox still chasing me. I knew that in order to lose him, I had to do something.

  There was a water tank standing on wooden feet. I thought that if I shoot it, it will fall. I took out my crossbow and shot at one of the feet.

  "Crack!*"

  It cracked. The tank was falling down. I sped up to pass the water tank.

  "Bam! Whoosh!"

  The water tank's content spilled out. Hopefully, stopping Zeynox in his tracks. We ran further away into the nearby forest.

  XFire 14: Ayla

  We ran into the forest to hide from Zeynox. It was near sunset by that time. The forest was getting
dark.

  "Cel... Look... Its a cave"

  "Let's hide in here"

  We entered the cave. It seemed to be a cave belonging to some cavemen. There were drawings on the walls of the cave.

  The drawing depicted the lifestyle of those who once lived inside the cave. It had depictions of people hunting for food, planting food and some depictions of the rituals that they have performed.

  We sat down deep inside the cave. The light was dim but I wanted to treat her wound.

  "Are you feeling any pain?" I asked.

  "I couldn't feel anything..."

  I dug the arrow out of her shoulder. There was some blood coming out.

  Her head was on my lap. I carefully wrapped the bandage around her shoulder.

  "You should feel better soon"

  "Thank you... I thought I was about to die..."

  "Don't worry... I'm here for you"

  "I lost my parents went I was young... They were a part of a gang. They died... Because of me...!" she said, her last few words became a high pitched whisper.

  "How is it your fault?"

  "The town I lived in was at war. My parents went to fight. They told me not to go out of the house. I didn't listen... I opened the door and looked outside"

  //Ayla's flashback//

  I looked outside to see what everyone was doing.

  "Ayla!!!" my father shouted.

  "Phew!*"

  An arrow was shot, it was coming my way. And then, "Oof...".

  My father blocked the bullet, he was badly wounded. He said "Be strong... Don't cry...".

  My mother took my hand and tried to run away. I wouldn't move.

  "What about daddy?"

  "We have to go!" said mom.

  "Just go... Leave me here..."

  "Phew!*"

  "Oof..."

  I heard the sound of the arrow. Mom fell to the ground. "Mom? Mom?!"

  "Thuuung*"

  An arrow landed right in front of me. My daddy was shouting "Run!!! Leave us here!!!"

  Another arrow was shot, it hit the wall next to me.

  "Run!!!!"

  //Cel's POV//

  "I ran away. I cried like the little girl I was. I was only 6 back then. I didn't know a thing about life. I thought that life was just a game... But no more... It was my fault!" she told me.

  She was crying on my lap. Her tears were flowing down her face. It was like the rain that just started to pour outside. The cave was high enough, I was pretty sure that the water won't enter the cave.

  XFire 15: Past

  The rain continued to pour heavily upon this world.

  Ayla was starting to calm down. My pants got wet from her tears.

  "I feel guilty for things too"

  "Huh?" Ayla said as she was wiping her tears.

  "I was born to the Alt family. A family known for having brave males. I only had my parents, no siblings. I was... a coward... I was scared of the thought of monsters, swords and blood. One night, my father brought me out..."

  //Cel's flashback//

  "Where are we going daddy?"

  "You'll see"

  We walked to the nearby forest. It was really dark there. It was nighttime anyway.

  "Let's go in!"

  "What?! Its scary there..."

  "Come on! We'll have a blast!"

  I was carried into the forest. My eyes were closed.

  "Open your eyes"

  "No! Its scary!"

  "There's nothing to afraid abou-!"

  We fell to the ground. I was scared, I didn't know what happen.

  "Growl..."

  I heard a growl. I escaped my daddy's hands to look around. I dared to open my eyes even though I was scared.

  I saw red eyes behind daddy. I was so scared then.

  "Ugh... It bit me..."

  "Daddy! Help me!!!"

  The thing got closer and closer. I kicked the thing with my eyes closed.

  "Aooo..."

  I took out daddy's sword and slice that thing. I was scared, angry and sad at the same time.

  "How dare you bite daddy!!!" I shouted while hitting it multiple times.

  The thing shattered into pieces that shattered into dust that slowly disappeared.

  "Daddy! I did it! Daddy? Daddy?! Daddy????!!!!!!"

  //Cel's POV//

  "I felt so guilty because I wasn't as brave as I am now. I decided that I wanted to man up and fight like how my daddy did. When I saw those knights in the sky, I've set my mind to become one. I don't want anyone who matters to me die anymore. No one..."

  "You had a rough life too, eh...?"

  "You could say so"

  "But how could you seem so fine! I'm still crying like a baby over that day!"

  "I never did. I break down when I fail to protect the one's I cared for. It was like I didn't want a day like that happening again. I am who I am because of my father... Thank you..."

  I was thinking about what everyone was doing at home. "Sora, Spica, Mom... Are you ok? Is everything alright?" I wondered.

  "You should try and accept your parents' deaths"

  "I couldn't even accept myself..."

  "You should at least try"

  "Why don't you protect me then?"

  "I want to. I will"

  "But you left me alone with the guards back there..."

  "But I came to save you anyway. If I fail to protect, I'll save it"

  XFire 16: Targeted

  //Ayla's POV//

  "Cel is more complex of a character than I thought... He has gone through the pain of losing a loved one. But he is stronger than me" I thought.

  "You were still young when your parents died. You didn't know a thing. So its acceptable, to me though"

  "Not for me. If I wasn't stubborn enough to look, mom and dad should still be alive! At least my mom would if I just left daddy..."

  "The past is in the past... You should think about what you should do now..."

  "Yea, I guess so"

  "Besides, you wouldn't have become the awesome person you are now"

  "Thanks..."

  He made me feel better. I feel connected to him now. Its like we were the same...

  //Cel's POV//

  Ayla was sitting on my lap, her head was on my shoulder.

  "Crack... Crack...*"

  I heard footsteps. Surprisingly, I could hear the sounds of the footsteps even though its raining.

  "Ayla, be quiet. I think Zeynox is near..." I whispered to her ear.

  Ayla was shocked to hear that. Her eyes were wide open.

  She seemed to be saying "I don't want to die... I don't want to die..." without actually saying it.

  I saw the silhouette of the one and only Zeynox from the opening of the cave.

  I was ready to fight anytime soon. I was ready to draw out Lucinar.

  He eventually left. I was relieved. My heart rate eventually dropped.

  "Ayla, he's gone. But we would have to wait longer" I whispered.

  She let out a breath of air in relief. She rested her head back on my shoulder.

  "Thank god..." she said quietly.

  I started to think "Sora, I promised to come back home alive. I will come back home alive, I'll be sure to put an end to Zeynox's reign of terror".

  It was nighttime, the sun has long gone. The cave was cold inside. The rain stopped pouring, which was good news considering the temperature.

  "I think its safe to go back now" I said.