Dark Kingdom

[Deity]

"It is done. I do hope I made good on my promise." The man tossed the arrow to the ground, while Bizz made sure to take a good measure of him now that he was visible. He looked all human to her, and she felt sort of embarrassed and scared at the same time. Humans and laguz did not like each other, so why had this man cured her, let alone save her from his own kin?

Bizz nodded at the mysterious man, unable to act in another way. Rad noticed that she had lowered her head in a shy way. Perhaps she was scared, but he perceived that she was grateful nonetheless.

"Thank you for your help," the shy girl finally spoke, though by doing so, she felt that her legs were trembling. Her trembling was due to two things. One was that she was very weak due to the loss of blood, and the other was because she was scared of this man, even though he had helped her. To Bizz, he simply was a man, one that her kin hated to the death. By then, Rad already knew why the girl was acting shy and scared. She was a laguz after all, and the races of humans and laguz had never really liked one another. Rad lowered his head a bit, then, realizing that to the girl he was just a simple human, and perhaps she hated him despite Rad having saved her. Rad felt stupid wearing this human disguise. But he could not do anything about it nonetheless. If this little girl saw his true form, she would surely hate him more for it.

But both of them were mistaken, only they di not know it. Bizz actually felt grateful for what this man had done to save her, and Rad really did not hate her in return.

"Even though my potion helped with the wound," Rad explained to her, tossing his negative thoughts away. "It certainly was not a strengthening potion. You must feel rather weak, the loss of blood was much by what I saw. I have a temple here nearby, where other friends of mine are waiting for me. If it is alright with you, I'd like to tend you better there."

Rad actually carried strengthening potions with him, but he wanted to learn why the ruffians had been after her. Aside from that, he wanted to give the girl more aid.

Bizz's world was a troubled one, and she knew that she had nowhere else to go, nobody else to turn to with a plea for help. Her kin was in trouble and so was the rest of the world. She carried something that the king of Broah wanted. Just minutes ago, the little girl had thought that her time in this world was at an end, and that soon the rest of the world would mostly follow her to the grave, for if the enemy managed to acquire what she carried, the world's loss was assured.

She felt a dizzy spell then, before she could respond to the man's kind offer. She lost consciousness there, but lucky for the laguz twelve year old, Rad was there to hold on to her.

Before he set out with her back to the temple, Rad made sure that the enemies remained in their state. He would return momentarily to deal with the four of them.

-xox-

[Dathiason Kx]

Why is it in bold? It hurts my eyes reading it.

[Deity]

Why is it in bold? It hurts my eyes reading it.

Its not bold, actually, its just size 4.

But I will see what I can do next time I post lol. XD

Oh, and here is a link for the feedback thread, thanks. I'd like to keep the story thread as clean as possible for readers to easily browse the story. ^^

Dark Kingdom Feedback

Also, if you want in, there is still time for you to hand in a character.

[Deity]

Before he set out with her back to the temple, Rad made sure that the enemies remained in their paralyzed state. He would return momentarily to deal with the four of them.

With the laguz girl unconscious, Rad was able to transform into his other human-like form where he had the use of wings. Flying through the nightly sky as he carried the young laguz, Rad believed that she would soon recover and perhaps she would be kind enough to let him know why those men had been after her.

He arrived the citadel in a few minutes, but like always, decided to land out of view. He did not want his students to know about his true nature. Moments later, he knocked at the door, and this one was answered after fifteen seconds or so.

"Master you..." Yuli started to say, but when she saw that her master carried a young girl in his arms, she simply stared at her. She put a weird expression on her face when she noticed that the girl was a laguz. Rad did not see Yuli's expression, nor did he care, he simply walked by as he said.

"She needs attention, she's weak."

By then, Freohr and Yggy started coming out of the kitchen area, fast enough to catch Rad going by with the girl.

"What was that about?" Freohr asked Yuli.

"I...think it was a laguz girl," Yuli told her. "And she seemed hurt."

"What?" Yggy was surprised. "A laguz girl?"

[Deity]

They were all surprised as Yggy was, for humans did not like the laguz that much. Even good old people such as the students Rad taught, felt uneasy when near such a beast.

Ether and Yogurt joined them then, for the two students had wanted to check out all the commotion. They were also briefed, and all as one they headed to where the master had gone, wanting to find out why he had brought a laguz girl along with him.

They found him inside of his very own room. The door was open, and so in the group went.

They saw as they entered that Rad was already tending to her, pulling a white blanket over the girl's body. They approached him slowly, not wanting to startle him, although they all knew that he knew they were there.

"I ran into her in the forest when I was searching for twigs," Rad explained without stopping his work on the girl. "Five men were after her, I was able to save her."

"What happened to the men?" Freohr was quick to ask.

Rad turned to her, then, and stood up, eyeing all of them one by one. "I neutralized them, although I had to get rid of one...Listen to me," he grabbed a hold of Freohr's delicate shoulders with his hands. Freohr was the one closest to him, and so Rad went on to grab her. "Take care of the girl, look after her, I still have to return and deal with the other four, whom I left neutralized. I will be back shortly." Rad then extracted a small vial that contained blue liquid inside. The ones who caught eye of it knew that it was a potion of strength. "Give this to her when she wakes up," Rad instructed to Freohr as he gave her the potion. Freohr nodded as she took it in her hands.

"Master, can I go with you?" Ether was eager to go and aid his master. Rad quickly stared at him. He shook his head at him and Ether lowered his head in shame.

"It could get dangerous," Rad lied, a rare thing he did. "I want to know why they were after her. After that, I believe I will have to take them into custody to the closest garrison, so I wont be back soon It could take me half the day of tomorrow. The girls could need your help here, Ether. Yours and Yogurt's. The citadel is under your command now." To finish off, Rad touched Ether on the shoulder, soothingly. "You up to it?"

Ether nodded at him immediately, his smile returning quickly.

[Deity]

"And you, Yogurt?" Rad asked him.

Yogurt nodded as well.

"Well done," Master Rad smiled at them. "I must get going." And he started off.

"Master," Yuli hollered as Rad started to storm out of his own room. "You haven't even tasted a bite. Wont you carry at least something for the road?"

"I'll be okay, Yuli," Rad stopped at the door and looked back at her. "It's not the first time I go out without food."

It was true, Rad had mentioned several stories where he had gone out to explore without the use of carrying food. He would find something along the road.

Rad exited the citadel shortly after.

And he arrived the spot where he had left the two man paralyzed. They saw him arrive, for they were just paralyzed, not unconscious. Rad took the liberty of tying their hands behind their back with the same rope that they had used on the girl. After he had done so, he ended the paralyzing effect, speaking to the ring in murmurs. The two men wanted to threaten him, or at least say something, but after having seen how fast and easy he had neutralized them, they simply followed his every order.

With those two walking beside him, Rad was able to return to the spot where he had thrown his sapphire stone. The mighty beast was still there, sitting and intently staring at the archer who was trapped in the gaunt's hand magical hold. The two men that had come with Rad, slowed down and eventually stopped, after seeing the mighty beast ahead. Rad noticed that the first man he had laid out cold with a punch was still out of it, nonetheless he was alive.

"Relax," Rad told the pair of prisoners when he noticed their anxiety. "It wont hurt you unless you threaten it."

"Wha...What is that?" One of them asked, full of horror. He got no response, but Rad spoke something that they did not understand. Moments later, the mighty Ghöxira turned to his master and laid down in the forest floor, as if it was a dog. Rad had instructed his pet to lay down and rest a bit and not to mind the ones with him. Seeing the beast obeying him, Rad then nodded and said to the men.

"Don't attempt to escape. That beast will be upon you in a matter of seconds. If you don't wish to die a horrible death, I'd keep still."

The archer, knowing that he spoke the truth, assisted him and told her companions.

"He tells the truth. The beast swallowed Frick in one gulp!"

Rad turned toward the archer he said.

"I will release you from the spell if you cooperate. If you don't, then I can make that hand go back to where it came from, carrying you along for the ride. Believe me when I say it wont be a fun ride. You will be sent right into Hel where you will suffer a much worse death than your partner did at the hands of my pet."

Lune had heard of such a place, the land of the morphs, or demons, as they were knowned in Phydoria. Gulping hard, Lune trembled in fear.

"What do you want from me?" the archer said, almost crying.

"Just the truth, information as to why you lot were after the laguz girl, nothing more."

[Deity]

Lune stared at her companions, who lowered their head. Rad turned to stare at them too.

“Do they know something you don’t?” Rad asked the archer. She shook her head and responded.

“None of us know anything. The only one who knows about it is that man laying there to your left. He is our boss, we were just following his orders.”

Rad carried an amulet that could let him know if a person was lying to him or not. Satisfied, he decided to tease the girl a bit. “Why do you lie to me?”

“I...I didn’t lie, it’s the truth, I swear it.”

“I carry many magical items with me,” Rad said, his face and tone of voice very serious. “One of them tells me that you are lying.”

“No...I swear it’s the truth. Byo knows! Wake him up and you’ll see.”

“Off to Hel with you,” Rad shouted, and he ordered the hand to return back to its plane of existence. The two men only watched in shock as the hand disappeared from view, along with the archer, who issued forth one last shout of horror.

“Sh..She told you the truth!” One of the man shouted. Rad turned back to face them.

“I know,” he smiled at them. “You guys need to loosen up, start having more fun.” Rad then summoned the hand back to the living plane, and the archer, obviously agitated and scared, was breathing hard, a look of pure horror in her face. Rad ended the spell and the archer fell to the ground from fifteen feet up, landing on her feet but staggering to the ground as soon as she hit. She remained laying down on top of the forest floor, which was filled with leaves, dirt, rocks and twigs. Rad approached her and offered a hand to help her up.

“Sorry about that. I was just teasing with you. Now tell me you are not afraid of death.”

The black haired archer simply looked at him, as if he was mad. He was, to her, but now she knew about the horrors that laid beyond the layers of the living planes. A truly terrifying place she had seen, and only briefly, and one that she hoped not to see again, ever. Slowly, the archer girl took his hand and was helped up. Rad took her bow and broke it in two. She carried no other weapons, so he escorted her to where the other two men were sitting at.

By that time, the man known as Byo was sitting up. He was a little taller than Rad Quetz. Rad did not give him a moment to breath, he was on him right away.

“You are the one who will tell me everything,” Rad stared into his blue eyes as he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. “Your friends have told me everything. Now start talking.”

-xox-