User blog:DaWalkinWaffle/King of Steel: Part XXll

17 ~ i

Winter surveyed St. Lamia Palace from his position on the cliff face. He had lent some of his power to Lucius in order to transport them to Maxwell's headquarters faster. They had made camp on a high cliff and were training for the battle to come. Winter winced as he distinctly heard something explode.

"Whoops. I need better aim." Chaos said. Winter turned and observed the large crater in the center of their camp.

"You think?" he asked.

"No, not think, I know. That's why I stated the fact." Chaos said, purposely missing the irony. Winter rolled his eyes.

"Ha!" Eze shouted as he scored a blow on Will as they sparred. Will stumbled back and shoved his shield towards Eze.

"SACRED FORCE!" Will shouted and Eze was blasted back. Eze picked himself up.

"THUNDER RETRIBUTION!" he shouted and slammed Batootha into Will's shield. Unfortunately, Will's shield was specially made and enchanted so some of the lightning deflected back to Eze. Both swordsmen lay on the ground dazed.

"How about you guys take a break?" Winter suggested. When the didn't respond Winter assumed they agreed. Kajah was helping Rowgen and Lario practice by lobbing dark energy at them as moving targets. Neither missed any of their targets and the energy dissolved on impact with a small explosion. Tia was healing some dying plants with her song. Darvanshel watched her with interest.

"Darvanshel, what's your special move?" Winter asked.

"It's a bit hard to explain. I can...greatly reduce damage, so to speak."

"Ok. Would you care to demonstrate?" Winter said.

"Smack Winter if you don't mind Chaos." Darvanshel said. Winter flinched as Chaos smacked him.

"What was the point of that?" he asked. Chaos chuckled.

"King's Shield." Darvanshel said. Chaos was engulfed in flames.

"Interesting." Chaos said. Winter frowned.

"Now smack him again." This time when Chaos smacked him, there was much less impact and pain.

"Wow. How long does it last?" Winter asked then frowned as Chaos began to examine his flaming clothes.

"Now long. It should save you in dangerous situations though. You just have to know when to use my special move." Darvanshel said.

"Hmm. I think I'll know if I'm in a life-threatening situation. This will be useful." Winter said.

"Yes. Now I can smack you more often." Chaos said.

"What? No! That's not what I meant." Winter said.

"Whatever. Now, Winter, how about we work on your steel energy manipulation?" Chaos suggested.

"Sure. What do I do?" Winter asked.

"Form a ball of energy in your hand and try to keep it from...eh...doing us harm." Chaos said. Winter did as Chaos said but found it hard to keep the orb under control. He gritted his teeth as it threatened to lose control.

"BOO!"

"Gah!" Winter shouted and flung the orb into Chaos's face, sending him flying back.

"Fos hya kiiz." Chaos said.

"What does that mean?" Winter asked.

"Heal me faster. Bit hard to see if everything is silver." he said and walked face-first into a tree.

"Oh. Whoops."

"Whoops indeed. Now freeze and put your hands up!" Winter spun to find at least a dozen warriors behind him, capable of blasting him and his units to bits in an instant. Winter raised his hands and his units did the same.

"Which did you want me to do? Freeze or put my hands up?" Chaos asked.

"Wrong way Chaos. They are over here." Winter said. Chaos turned around at the confused warriors.

"Hands up then freeze." their leader said.

"Can't freeze. I need my hands for that." Chaos said. "I have an elaborate self-freezing spell that I can-"

"Just put your hands up then stop moving!" the leader yelled, putting extra stress on the word then. Chaos shrugged and put his hands up.

"Now we are taking you to our bosses."

Later.....

Winter, Chaos, and his units were shackled, blindfolded and shoved along to wherever they were being taken. Eventually they stopped and the blindfolds were taken off. They were in a large cave, and people were wandering around everywhere. Then Winter realized that all of them were armed and had distinct color schemes. Chaos's next words confirmed his suspicions.

"By the amount of elemental power I sense here, this is a Rejected warcamp." Some of the Rejected snarled at him.

"Silence! Your empress demands your attention." a woman's voice shouted. All the Rejected turned towards the speaker. A woman on floating chair looked down at them imperiously. "Intruders have been brought here. They will give us our information for our invasion! You will let them pass to my inner council." The Rejected made a clear path to a dark corridor. Winter's group was shoved down it. Inside was another cave, this one with seats, arranged as a court in a large city. Rejected sat in each one. Winter recognized two Rejected for each element.

"Summoner! De-summon your units. Now!" one said to him. Worried about his units' safety, he complied.

"Now, you will give us information on the upper world." the empress said.

"Says who?" Chaos asked.

"You will not speak unless spoken to prisoner!" one snarled.

"Says who?" Chaos repeated himself. The empress signaled for the Rejected to stop.

"Summoner. I am Empress Lilly Matah. I lead the Rejected in this warcamp. If you want to live, you will answer my questions and those of my council. Rina and Rashil represent the Thunder faction. Rickel and Copra represent the Water faction. Agni and Lava represent Fire. Zellha and Narza represent Light. Myself and Hadaron represent Dark. I will give you some time for you to ready yourself and gather your thoughts. Take them to the cells." she said.

As it turned out, Winter had much time to think.

"How do we escape Chaos?"

"No idea. Still blind. You really need to be more careful."

"You scared the devil out of me!" Chaos shrugged. The door opened admitting Zellha, Rina, and Hadaron.

"Yes?" Chaos asked, facing the wall. Hadaron rolled his eyes.

"Why are you here?" Winter asked.

"We do not always agree with Lilly Matah. She is bent on revenge on summoners. She does not respect their free will." Rina said.

"On revenge we do not agree. Any information you give her will put he closer to revenge." Zellha said.

"And that is something we cannot allow." Hadaron finished.

"So what are you saying?" Winter asked. The three Rejected looked at each other, then at him.

In unison they said, "We are going to help you escape."