YM778.TV Chapter 26: Black paladins
"No!" Jael shouted. He was still on his hands and knees, looking as if someone had just smacked him in the face. Litha...Litha..."Litha!"
Temur didn\'t see her leap but he saw the way Jael was looking at the monster and calling Litha. His body shuddered and his eyes narrowed in anger. He called up the rest of his power and he was shrouded in ruddy smoky aura. He struggled to his feet, his body pulling back in pain. "You. Are.
Dead "
Jael also crawled forward, his eyes flashing with low crimson; half his body shuddered and ripped, his smooth flesh shifting and changing, and long, sharp fangs came out, gleaming in rolls and burning with green fire.
The two of them faced the monster, and their deadly anger-fueled aura rose in the air, making it shimmer.
The monster also faced them; the two hands it wasn\'t using for walking turned towards them, but then the monster froze, its body ripped, and it staggered, turning this way and that.
Then it simply exploded in a blast of blue light. A loud sharp crunch like the breaking of watermelon but more fleshly and louder, followed quickly by the smell of rot. Flesh, blood, and broken fangs whipped everywhere, cutting into trees and gouging the ground.
Jael and Temur looked at each other and the power and anger they were building up cut off sharply. They ran, not minding the pain in their body or the smell of spoiled eggs and flesh on them.
They hit the mass of the still-warm monster and started digging, using their hands to pull back the rotted flesh. Until they found what they were looking for. Litha.
Her eyes were closed, and Jael feared for the worst, but Temur picked her up as if she weighed nothing; he put his ears on her chest and sagged in relief. "She\'s alive. She\'s alive!"
Jael sat down into the mess, and then he began to laugh, a low chuckle that soon turned into full-out laughter, and even Temur joined him, his laughter rolling out in the clearing.
The three of them stood like that. One unconscious, one holding another, and another sitting there. All of them were covered in a black mass of spoilt meat.
That was how the Black paladin found them, they had searched the whole Zone. They thought surely Jael and the others couldn\'t be at the center where the monsters were; they must have hidden. But after searching the whole forest, there was only one place they could be.
"Did they kill all the monsters?" One of the paladin warriors asked the captain.
The Captain\'s face hardened beneath his mask; he knew they were strong, but this much? "Come. Let\'s hit them while they are weak."
Jael heard them immediately they entered the clearing and started talking. At first, he thought they were Awakeners who entered their Zone by mistake or were brought here by the change that happened in the forest.
But immediately he heard \'take them down,\' and he looked up to see the way they dressed; he became alert. "Temur."
Temur stiffened and he held Litha even closer. "I see." He walked a distance away and dropped her gently to the ground, then he faced those coming, his sword pointed. "You can stop right there."
The Captain spread his hand, although he stopped walking, either from stepping into the goo of the dead monsters or because Jael also pointing his sword. "So fascinating to see the chaos Devourer. It\'s a blessing, but it shouldn\'t be in the hands of such a worthless bastard like you."
Jael bristled. "So you are indeed the chaos cult. You filthy ritualist that sacrifices souls. You sick bastards are here again. What are you actually gaining from all this."
"For power of course. Some Awakeners reach their threshold rather quickly in the early ranks. How do you think they gain more power?"
"They try other means, why does it have to be on the lives of others? Why do you have to sacrifice others just to gain power?"
The Captain chuckled. "Is that any different from what happened here in the Tower? You\'ll have to pull others down to climb up. You\'ll kill or you\'ll be killed. In the end, we\'re all the same. You\'ll get your hands covered in blood to get power."
Jael twitched. He sensed a small truth In that, but the difference is also important and large. "I don\'t go out to hunt people to sacrifice. I gain power with my strength and might."
A scoff. "And I gain mine with serving Chaos. Different paths, same result."
Temur nodded. "You are right. Different paths, but even in the quests for power, there\'s a line that must not be crossed. Power is the daily swinging of your sword until you are good enough to cut the moon. What you are doing is pathetically clinging to some being to save you but fear not, since our different paths have crossed, we will put you out of your misery."
The Captain stiffened with each word that Temur spoke, and when he finished, his hands were clenched into fists. "You have no right to talk about what is right and wrong!"
Jael calculated. There are four of them. The one in the front talking seems to be the leader; he\'s the shortest, while the other three seem to be the same height as Jael. He saw no visible weapons on them but that\'s nothing.
The most important factor is that they are not tired and battle-weary like them. And with Litha out of it, Jael didn\'t think they could stand a chance unless they were very weak. But that\'s highly unlikely.