51 Birth of the Darken Hear

"As if someone had planned the attack?" A cute child-like voice peered forth which stopped the frontline in their tracks to look at a small cloaked figure floating in the air. "A child?" One of the members on the frontline inquired with a puzzled expression. The cloaked figure scoffed. "Child? Bah, I am no child. I am a god. The God of Fate." The child would remove the hood, A boyish face with short dark purple hair was revealed. Large mystic purple eyes filled with little stars instead of pupils could be seen staring down at the group of people. The person did appear childlike, and the members of the escorting party would have laughed it off... If they weren't so on edge. A soft giggle came from behind, loud enough for the frontline to hear. "They called you a child! That's hilarious!" It was another childlike voice that spoke up; however, their hood was already removed. Large mystic blue eyes filled with little stars instead of pupils were staring down at the people as well. A small hand came to brush the medium length dark blue hair out of the girl's vision.

"I mean they aren't wrong. You do act like a spoiled brat sometimes." The girl would add which caused the boy to grit his teeth and ball his tiny hands. "Enough! Tell these mortals why we are here!" The boy exclaimed which caused the girl's brow to raise. "Oh, you think you can command me, brother? The Goddess of Destiny?" She mused with a devious look in her eyes which caused a soft vivid dark blue aura to emerge around her body. "If you don't want mother punishing you, then yes." The boy replied in return with a vivid dark purple aura seeming to emerge around his body as well. The small group of people caught in the middle of it was perplexed at what was going on. Eventually, someone spoke up, "Umm.. what do you mean, The attack was planned?" One of the escorting party spoke up. This drew the attention of the two children who were glaring daggers at each other.

There was still silence. The expression upon their faces showed that they believed these two children even if they wished it was a lie or a dream. The reason being that they bore witness to the 'end of the world' once already. The event was known as the Evening Culling. Destruction rained down on their world from the heavens and brought ruin to the world. People went mad, while others just struggled to survive. Some formed groups, and as decades went by things like 'Mana' became realistic. The usage of mana became known as 'Using a Spell'. Not everyone was gifted with this talent, but those who were generally tried to help bring the world back to life. There were some who used their gift for their own selfishness and greed. They were dealt with accordingly by a group of people known as the Seven Warlords; two of which were known: Chasity and Ire. However, that is a tale for another time. The people who struggled and live through the Evening Culling could easily accept that there were other worlds, and with how everything was going now, it wasn't hard to accept that these two children could be Gods and Goddess'.

"With that said though, you people are not going anywhere..." The boy would smile widely. "Correct. We tried to get some of those things to come to kill you, people, off; however, they are hard to control. Therefore we have to do it ourselves. You see, you can not be saved. Even if you made it to the outskirts of that pitiful village. It would do nothing for you all. That Kingdom is corrupt. You would all be sold to slavery or worse. So think of it as your salvation. Your Fate..." the male would end. "Your Destiny..." the girl would add. "Ends here." They both spoke in sync as blindly flash of dark blue and dark purple surged from their bodies and clashed together. When the flash of light died down not a soul was in sight, not even the two from before.

No one survived that. Instead, only four eyes bore witness to what had just happened. Lesia and Riyku. They had overheard shouting nearby and came to investigate, but when they saw how the people felt. It was obvious something sinister was going to happen. Riyku almost jumped out to help them, but Lesia had caught hold of him and held his mouth shut while trying her best to restrain him. Again tears overwhelmed both of them, and they had turned away from the blinding light. When all was said and done they looked with a lingering feeling of hope, and yet nothing was there. "Why..." Riyku muttered as he stopped struggling. "Why didn't you let me save them!?" He shouted in anger and sorrow. "I can't! I couldn't watch you throw your life away!" Lesia exclaimed which caused Riyku's eyes to widen. "You..." Her words seemed to have made Riyku recall a lesson he learned with the Magi. The Magi had put him through a strenuous exercise session which was when he learned how to use Shadow Blessing. Many times Riyku failed, and many times he tried harder. Taking the words the Magi said to him to mind. Although when the session was finished with a success the Magi finally spoke up, "Why are you trying to so hard? What do you hope to gain from this?" This caused Riyku to look off into the sky in thought. "Jaccs wants to become stronger to help the village. Jin wants to become stronger to protect himself. I..." A smile curved across his face. "I just want to be able to protect those I cherish!" A wide innocent smile spread across his face which caused the Magi to smile softly. "That is a wonderful reason. However, remember; if you can not protect yourself, you may only end up putting others in danger. Even if you sacrifice yourself, something else may come along to harm those you cherish. Never throw away your life, Riyku." Those words are what Riyku took to heart that day.

"You are right... I am sorry, Lesia." Riyku would reply softly; however, Lesia did not scold him further. Instead, she turned him around and held him close. "It's not your fault. Do not blame yourself. You have done nothing wrong. Okay?" Lesia spoke up almost as if she had experienced something similar. One could hear it in her voice. Even Riyku knew she was resonating with the situation as well as how he felt. "We..." Riyku would speak up. "We need to save as many as we can." Riyku would reaffirm himself. Lesia would release him slowly, almost as if she did not want to, and stand on her feet. "Are you sure you can handle it? No one would blame you for running. You are just a child, Riyku." Lesia would wipe away the tears from her face. "I am scared. I am scared of dying. I am scared of what could happen to me. However..." Riyku would look up from the ground with tears still in his eyes. "I am more scared of losing everything I cherish!" He would exclaim aloud. "Mom, Dad, Jaccs, Jin, Mina, Magi, the villagers, and even you, Lesia. The thought of you all disappearing while I am left alone and alive scares me more than death itself. I will go." Riyku would resolve himself further. The look in Lesia's eyes showed her just how opposite he was from her. She had lost her family to a group of thugs. Watching them murder her father and violate her mother. She ran when she had the chance, escaped as far away as possible from their little farmhouse. It may have been years ago, but it was still vivid. The feeling. She was still considered a child back then, but she blamed herself. She took it upon herself to become stronger when Ire had found her taking shelter under a tree in a weakened state on a rainy evening. Which was why she joined the Hunting Party. Yet her reasoning for becoming stronger was so she could no longer blame herself. So she no longer felt weak. It was Riyku's resolve that showed her just how weak she truly was.

While Riyku had been ready to jump out into the open to try and save those of the tribe. She remained in the shadows. She stopped Riyku in his tracks. She held him back. She thought he was throwing his life away when in reality there may have been a chance to save them. She had become no stronger than when she was back then. However... Seeing Riyku's resolve. Bearing witness to those who died seemed to only reaffirm his reasons for becoming stronger. She bore witness to that and felt encouraged by it. Encourage by the fact that someone younger than her was taking a different path. He wasn't wallowing in despair but instead trying to push forward. This made her want to struggle for a different reason. A smile curved across her face as she made a silent vow, "I will make sure you are able to achieve your goal."

A few hours had passed considering the time they took to rest, as well as what had happened during their venture back to the village. When they arrived they were met with a horrific scene. The village was set ablaze, women were being violated on the spot by various creatures, men being devoured wholly. Children and some women were being dragged off. A terrible feeling was swirling within Riyku's stomach. One could see it on his face, the worry he had. "Mom!" Riyku rushed off in a hurry, Lesia called out to him while trying to reach for him but found herself intercepted by a Neuromorphic Lycan. Kissing her teeth she pulled her daggers from the sheaths. "Out of my way!" Lesia surged towards the Lycan whose fur was a pure black with colored spots. This one was more guarded and less relaxed. It wasn't as tall as the other two nor did it appear as strong. If anything it looked like a normal Lycan with the exception of the N marking upon the forehead.

Lesia's dagger clashed with the Lycan's claw which she tucked inward and under the motion while deflecting the force elsewhere. Closing in on the Lycan it would bring up a knee to try and hit Lesia in the stomach since it couldn't cross its arms due to the positioning. Lesia was aiming to cut at the chest of the beast, and both strikes hit; however, the Lycan's was so powerful it sent Lesia rag dolling upon the ground. Lesia's strike wasn't powerful, but it was precise. A deep cut to the chest which caused the Lycan to stagger back when it seemed to want to lunge forward. This gave Lesia enough time to get back onto her feet, albeit weakly. She spat out some blood while narrowing her eyes at the Lycan. She would approach the Lycan steadily before dashing forward in a sudden burst when she came within arm's reach. The Lycan would give off a roar as he crossed both claws over one another to try and claw her down. At first, he wanted to keep her alive for breeding, but it seemed that was not going to be the case. He needed to kill her. He could at least feed off of her heart afterward.

The daggers came crossed over one another to block the X shaped claw strike. Lesia knew he was far stronger than she was, so she bent her knee inward in the direction she had planned to deflect the force. Struggling a bit more against the powerful force, so that the Lycan would fall into his own pressure when she finally deflected the force. She would pivot on the heel that did not have pressure upon it, turning in a swift motion while turning her daggers into a reverse grip. She would plunge the blade into the Lycan's arms while spinning on her heels all along the Lycan's arm until she came to the chest where she stopped suddenly. Turned one dagger into the normal grip and plunged it into the gut of the beast while the other came to the throat of the beast. She would dig the dagger in the gut upward while shoving the dagger in the throat deeper before tearing both out of the beast. The sudden surge of blood would cause the beast to stumble back in pain which she used to trip and shove the beast onto its back so she could leap on top of it and jam both of her daggers into the beast's heart. This ultimately ended the beast's life, and she sat there upon the stomach of nude Lycan breathing heavily. A wince of pain came from her as she placed her hand around her ribs. "Damn it..." She grumbled since it seemed she had some broken ribs. Not just that, but she could feel that something was wrong with her arms. Maybe her bones were fractured, even broken? The Adrenaline she had was decreasing and the pain that she did not feel earlier was starting to kick in. Alas, she pushed through, she left the daggers inside of the beast while making her way towards the direction Riyku ran in. His family home.

During the time Lesia was fighting the Beta Neuromorphic Lycan. Riyku was run through the village. He had in his hand a steel sword that was stained with blood. Clearly, he had picked it up off the corpse of one of the Guardian Party Members. When he saw one of the tribesmen being attack he saved them. Decapitating the unaware target, or plunge the blade through the heart of the target who was feasting on a dead tribal member. As for those that saw him he used his shadow with a short incarnation in a murmur in order to kill them off. He saved as many people as he could all the while making his way to his family home. When he had finally arrived though the place was set ablaze. Quickly he ran into the home and called out, "Mom!" As he did, pushing past the door only to see his mother's body torn to pieces. He bit his inner lip causing it to bleed as his pupils shriveled up, so many emotions fled his body. Ranging from sadness to anger. Though there was also hope, hope was still there. Hope that the rest of his family and friends were still alive. Approaching the body of his mother he would reach down to close her tear-stained eyes and take the locket she had around her neck. A memento of his late mother. Something he could at least keep to remember her. He would put it on and turn to move out of the home which collapsed behind him. This only caused him to grimace in pain with tears flooding his cheeks.

"Jaccs, Jin, Mina, Magi..." He muttered as he hoped they were still alive. He raced all over the village, taking out whatever Neuromorphic was in his path while searching for his family and friends. Finally, a voice he knew well enough was shouting orders. "Jaccs, protect the right side. Jin, I need you to keep tabs on the left. Mina doesn't let them through from the back. I'll make sure the rest don't breakthrough!" It was the Magi who was giving orders. The Magi, Jaccs, Mina, and Jin were accompanied by what was remaining of the Guardian and Scouting Party. They were all trying to keep a large portion of the tribe safe from the surrounding Neuromoprhics. "Shadows cast around me... bathe me your essences... Envelope my being... enter my soul if you must... Devour me whole if you have to... Just give me the strength to save them. I need the strength to save them. I want the strength to save them." Riyku chanted.

"I MUST SAVE THEM!" He shouted the shadows around surged towards him covering him entirely. An eerie black aura surging around his body. Various areas of his skin turning black, one of his eyes shifting to an orange glimmer. While he felt the power surge through him, he did not know what the price was to come of it. A heavy price was to pay for using power beyond what one was capable of after all. Riyku dashed forward, making a path through by cutting down all of the Neuromorphics in his way. When he arrived at the center, there was a large gap in the circle of the beasts. The beasts were frozen in a state of confusion. They were unsure of what just happened. Even the tribal members as well as the others were confused. Riyku turned his back from them and pointed with his sword at the opening. "GO NOW!" He exclaimed, his voice heavy distorted.