It's Time

"Stop," I ordered myself.

Everyone stopped and looked at me. I didn't realize that I spoke out aloud. The stress started to get to me. I had to keep myself under control before I could help the others out. Someone not able to help themselves won't be able to help out the ones they care about.

"Hey, you okay?" One of the newbies asked me. He looked concerned. More than he should.

"Feel concerned, but not for me man," I thought, but didn't voice it. Waving off his concern, I apologized for the sudden interruption and asked them to continue. I finish my meal, get up and sit somewhere else to calm myself down a little. The best way to get rid of tension was to drink some water and gegt to meditating, but I no longer had the luxury of doing so.

Not with so many lives on the line.

The letter did not specify the time when we would be attacked. Considering how regular logic works, it should take place at night since they're the souls of 'darkness' and not 'light'. But if in case it does not happen that way, we would be damned.

Once everyone was done, I made them do one last task. Run 2 kilometers, but without any Zarcs or buffs. Only use your legs and run.

All of them complained, but I gave them a straight no to complaints. Everyone took their respective positions, and together we all ran (they had to drag themselves to keep up).

It was fun.

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[Midnight]

Everybody was alert and completely ready : swords and katanas shining, quivers full, buffing equipment fresh. The atmosphere was tense. The lower members from the other clans were teleported (yes, that surprisingly exists here) to the villages and towns to protect civilians. Nobody knew when the attack would take place. All of them looked calm and composed, but I felt fidgety. A foresight not always ended up being an advantage. And at this moment, it could not help.

Standing by my side was Iwarzoǭ. He didn't look as composed as the others, but the his face said the opposite. He had definitely prepared for this.

"Hey Jester?" he said. "Once we get out of this, we're gonna straight go to our homes and crash into the beds. No talking about this incident that day."

Oh, just how could I tell him what was gonna happen if we took even a moment's break. Still, I return the sentiment and say, "The next day we're gonna have a treat on your money."

He grinned and said, "We'll see abou-"

.

A sharp whistle.

"EVERYONE, PREPARE YOURSELF," I yell through a buffer's stick (used to well, buff). Weapons in hand, stances in motion, buffers and healers in full swing, we stood silently, waiting.

.

We did not expect to be surprised.

.

Or such a grand entrance.

.

.

The prophecy came back to me.

~~The soil of Tantallon, the grass uproot~~

~~The land will rise~~

~~And feed on the alive~~

A crack on the ground. Black matter flowing out enveloping the ground; the grass melting and smoking but not burning. It touched our footwear, but did no damage to them. All of us were confused.

A creaking sound.

A hand through the crack. Another hand.

Two hands split the ground from that crack effortlessly, and some humming began.

Out came a towering figure clad in black as he swayed to the hum, remaining at one place.

.

.

.

Nobody moved.

The humming continued, and slowly but steadily the Souls of Darkness started coming out from that crack. Just like the name, they were souls who had come from the dark, representing the darkness in their heart. Their eyes hollow, hair outgrown; they looked lifeless.

I mean, they were lifeless to be fair. A surprisingly low, thirty of them came. Yet, they did not scatter but stood in place. Even more surprising, they did not have weapons. They weren't as tall as the first one, but they weren't very short either. Fairly human sized, so to say.

All of a sudden, the humming stopped. The one who came out first took a step forward. We took a step back, gripping out weapons tightly.

"You see," his voice was heavy and dark. "I can't work when there's no music. Everybody loves music; man, woman, child, animals, trees; nobody can have enough of it. Yet, they do not use such a marvelous thing in their line of work. I used to wonder why.

But now is not the time to wonder, isn't it?"

His dark clad self dissolved as he chose to take another step. Emerging from within, was a man with a dark black robe (with a hoodie like cap), a missing face and some sort of a mechanism in his hand.

"Jester, The Person," he pronounced carefully.

Green eyes, staring directly at mine as if to suck out my soul. He had definitely planned and prepared himself for this. And it was completely upto us to overturn the situation.

He raised both of his arms as if to present himself as a god, and looked up to the sky.

.

.

.

"Let the show, BEGIN."