- Blood of the Brother

The sky felt like a raining storm of light, smashing its fury into the ground at full force and speeds unimaginable. The blindness that set in and died the word in white was that of fiction, fantasy, and make believe.

It was as if the stars were crying tears down from the night sky. It was as if the gods themselves were letting the light from the heavens pour through the clouds.

It was not something that ever should have existed. It was not something that could have existed.

Yet here stood Kara, watching as the light of this dawning bright star shining in the night sky dwindled and disappeared.

However, what snapped her out of this trance of beauty was not the disappearing light, nor the sound of three Hunters drawing their weapons, and meeting the brothers head on in a fight, but the sound of a horn blowing from the forest's edge.

The tavern was situated close to the walls, near the forest. As such, the blaring sounds of a horn hit Kara like a thundering drum that resonated throughout the night.

She recognized the sound. It was the sound of the very same horn the brothers had used to set the beasts into a furry of rage and destruction around the city.

It was the sound of control.

Immediately she felt the damage this would do, and quickly turned just in time to see the large dust cloud forming over the many buildings, raging and drawing closer, until….

The ground shook, the windows cracked, the world itself seemed to quake in fear of this raging stampede, a stampede that blasted through the nearest building at the end of the street.

Dozens of horned monsters - Grockoils, as Cain revealed - were blaring down the street, raging towards the sound of the horn which blasted again.

Hearing the ground shake, and with some hidden warning, Lia and her group jumped out of the way, placing themselves in the alleyways between streets to keep themselves hidden from the raging monsters.

The brothers however, were more unlucky. As the beasts roared past, crushing their fallen bird-like brother to mere blood and mushed flesh, the brothers could only dodge, or get knocked aside.

The unlucky few who didn't have the time of doge, were thrown into buildings, smashed to the side, or simply tossed over head where they landed on the backs of the monsters.

Only one made it clear of the monsters, Ren, who screamed at Kara who stood there shell shocked, watching the monsters grow closer and closer. Each second passing they looked even bigger and more threatening.

'Am…am I going to die?'

It was the first thing she thought, before a force threw her to the side sprawling her on the round out of the reach of the monsters, who tore through the tavern, wood, stone, metal, glass and all.

They tore through the walls, the pillars, the windows - everything. Finally, once the tavern was clear out of their way, the large stone wall that surrounded the city was next, and like the tavern, they tore through it with ease.

The stone cracked, the walls fell, and the beasts were free to follow the sound of their call, a horn blaring from the forest, deep within the wooded sanctuary.

Knocking through trees and stumps, they paved a path to freedom.

Silence settled in once again, the peace after the war that rages. But it wasn't the sight of destruction that made everyone present stare on in silence and awe.

It wasn't the fact that something so destructive had happened in only a few seconds span of time. No, it was because of something else.

Kara, who lied, sprawled on the ground not too far away, sat in a daze as she looked at the space where she had once been. When the force threw her to the side, out of the way of the barreling destruction the stampede caused in its way, she got a moment's look at who caused it.

His white eyes shining in the darkening sky, the feeling of blissful peace that set in the moment before a monster's horns slammed into his body, she saw a look of pure fear in his eyes.

Not the fear of death as many might have mistaken it for, but the fear of another's. Hers.

He pushed her out of the way, in order to save her from death, giving his own.

For several seconds she sat there in a daze at what happened, but when she finally rose to see what lied before her, the very same thing that caused everyone present to look on in shock and stop what they were doing, she nearly fell back down to the ground.

Where she once stood, where she expected to see the dead and crushed body of Ken's, she instead saw him standing, completely fine.

There were no measures of scars, bruises, or blood pouring from any wound on his body. His hand was clutched to his stomach where he too seemed surprised to not find a gash or wound there.

He too seems mesmerized by what stood, crouched down in front of him, the bodies of nearly five Grockoil monsters at his feet.

The crouched figure of a man dressed in all black, daggers in his hands, his arms held out on either side of him, blood dripping from his steel and shaded face.

Unlike the brothers he didn't wear a mask, but his eyes still glowed white with magic and power inside them.

No one knew when he got there, no one knew how he got here. But he was there and the deaths of five Grockoil were on his shoulders.

Everyone stood in silence as they watched this unknown man slowly stand, his physique well built, while his entire body was covered in every weapon imaginable. From daggers to shuriken. From darts to arrows.

He was a walking weapon.

"Kal!"

A voice broke the silence, attracting this man's attention, as well as the rest present, as they looked down the street to find Lia standing next to a hooded man, dressed in long blue robes, his face hidden behind a hood.

The man, Kal, immediately set off in her direction, giving one last glance back at Ken, before - to Kara's amazement - he disappeared from his place, reappearing at Lia's side.

His back was facing them, but his blood soaked daggers spoke enough, more so than any look he could have given.

From the alleyways, Ren called out, snapping out of his trance, replacing awe for anger.

"Let's go!"

He waved at his brothers, who set off immediately after him, having gathered themselves up again. Sphen and Ben were right behind their brother, their own eyes glowing like something out of a child's horror story.

The night sky cast a shadow of darkness over the street, and for the brothers who wore all black, used to hunting in the shadows, were nothing more than a passing blur.

The only thing that told Lia and her allies where they were was the unmistakable glow of their eyes, as the zipped past in different directions.

Knowing the outcome of what would happen if they were caught off guard, Lia raised her blade out to the darkness, slowly shifting back towards Rian and Lukali.

"Back to back!"

She called out, finding the backs of her allies pressed against her own. They stared out into the darkness, unable to see anything other than the occasional shadow passing by.

'They're fast. Really fast.'

From the depths of her mind, growing from the shadows, she saw a picture. A small, dulled, but clear picture, with a calm voice accompanying it.

'Then we'll have to be faster.'

The image changed and suddenly, she could see a clear image of herself, as well as Rian and Lukali, who stood behind her.

The image changed and morphed, Lia could almost guarantee she could see herself moving within the image, as she moved outside her mind.

Cain had given her an overview of the area around her, and it was an advantage she wouldn't pass up.

'Face the streets, keep your mind clear, and I'll lead on from here.'

'Right.'

Lia kept her blade steady, her eyes trained, and immediately she felt her senses boost to an unimaginable sensitivity.

She could feel the slightest change in the wind, the smallest prick of her hair changing on her legs, the feeling of the cool night air encompassing her in a dull manner. She didn't feel the cold. She didn't feel the warmth.

She felt nothing.

And it was this nothing that would allow her to win.

A slight change in the wind, and the smallest blur in the picture, Lia's eyes instantly turned to face the darkness of her left, then to her right.

'Two are attacking first. The third stays afar.'

'Correct.'

Cain spoke, confirming her suspicions about the attack.

'The most likely scenario is for them to go for the weaker links. Careful of your friends Lia.'

'On it.'

She kept her sword ready, raised, and glinting in the moon's pale light. She could sense Kal and the robed man, who stood some distance away from them, shift in their stance.

They sensed it too. But would they step in?

Unlikely.

"Rian, you're right!"

She called out, keeping her eyes trained on the spot she spoke of.

"Got it!"

Rian raised his right gauntlet just in time for a sharp dagger to split the air, a flurry of sparks sent in every which direction, brightening the area around them.

Immediately Lia could see the form of a man, whose yellow eyes had been dulled for the sake of the attack, revealed by the light of the sparks, the cloaked shadow thrown from his hunched body.

Sphen, who seemed shocked by Rian's effort to block the attack, as well as the fact that it succeeded, stumbled from the force of the blow.

Lia took this moment to reach around Rian, aiming her open palm towards Sphen, a small fire glowing and burning at the tips of her fingers, before a flurry of flames spewed from her open palm.

[Flames]!

However, what Lia expected to become a burning mass of screams filled with pain, was instead empty air. With a flash and a speeding blur, Sphen was knocked to the side by an unseen force, a small glowing purple that broke the darkness told Lia all she needed to know.

She repositioned herself, keeping her eyes trained on the darkness, as well as the two people beside her. Her eyes never left them, being filled with an unmistakable sense of protection, as well as the awareness of the danger around them.

"Lukali, to your left!"

Luklai instantly heeded Lia's words, raised his bow, strung an arrow, and fired with all his might.

He might not have been the best of shots, nor could he have been the most accurate, no matter how far his luck had taken him so far.

Nonetheless, however, with two people moving together - one helping the other recover and move - Lukali didn't need great marksmanship, nor did he need great luck.

He merely had to aim left, and fire.

-Woosh! -Ting!

The arrow split apart the air, speeding fast with all of Lukali's strength behind it, moving fast and quick, it found its mark.

"Gah!"

A cry let out into the calm and cold air, and with a flurry of sparks, Lia watched as the arrow found its mark, slamming against Ben's armor, causing him to fall back on his knees.

Lia would later admit that she might have gotten too caught up in the fight, as well as too high on the idea of winning against these people who so rudely insulted her and her friends days before.

High on that idea, she left the circle of protection seeing that Ben was in a vulnerable position, and started out for him, her eyes filled with anger, and her sword sharp with steel.

"Lia, wait!"

Luali called after her, nearly dropping his bow to follow. However, what stopped them both was the sound of steel piercing blood. A sound that was so unmistakable it couldn't have been anything else.

'I'm a fool!'

Lia cursed herself on the side as she turned her back to Ben's fleeing shadow, rounding around to find a figure hunched close to the ground, his dagger raised to his head's length, deeply embedded between the cracks of Rian's armor.

"Agh!"

Rian cried out, his voice filled with pain.

Sphen had never left with his brother, and instead had stayed in his place, a little ways away in order to avoid the fire. When the perfect moment struck, like Lia's fleeting body leaving the circle, causing a gap in their defenses, he shot out from the darkness and attacked the unsuspecting Rian.

Unlike the rest, Sphen could see that Rian focused more on heavy hitting and defense, and was not at all nimble enough to dodge his attack.

However, Rian wasn't as easy of a target as Sphen might have thought. In less than a second Rain had easily come over the pain of the attack, and turned his focus on the unsuspecting Sphen, who was still digging his blade deeper into his side.

Grunting, trying to hold in the pain, Rian raised his right arm high, and brought it down with all the force he could muster up in his body.

"Sphen!"

Rian could hear Ren calling out from the alley ways, his voice filled with a useless warning.

Sphen didn't have any time to react, as the heavy iron gauntlet slammed into the back of his head, sending his body smashing into the ground.

His skull was weak, and like all bones underneath the skin, it broke easily.

He died immediately.

"Sphen!!"

Ren called out from the darkness, his voice filled with anger and resent.

As Rian knelt to the ground, clutching his side, trying to regain his breath as it became more and more labored, Lia rushed to his side.

At least she tried to.

"Lia, behind you!"

As she was rushing to help Rian, she didn't see the flurry of red behind her, as a searing pain that felt like it had stung her entire body. A pain that coursed through her blood and body, sending that pain directly to her head.

"Agk!"

The breath was thrown from her lungs, as she felt the cloth around her back fall along the bloody scar that now ran down her back. An ugly and deep scar that matched the feeling of pain and anguish Ren felt in his heart, as he stood above Lia with eyes filled with rage.

He raised his dagger above the hunched figure of Lia, who was still recovering from the sudden and unexpected attack, as blood dripped from the raised steel.

"Die you b*tch!!"

As the blade fell from the sky, a force from a man Ren never would have expected, pushed him to the side, against the ground, and sprawled backwards.

"Don't you even think about it!"

Luklai, the last person Ren would have expected to do something so rash, was now on top of him, his fists pounded against his face, sending drops of blood across the pavement.

Through a flurry of fists, he yelled into Ren's face, never faltering in his attacks.

"Don't you dare touch her!"

Ren tried to raise his hands in defense, but Lukali didn't give him the chance, as he continued to slam his fists into his face, causing the mask Ren wore to break in pieces, revealing his red eyes underneath, as well as a part of his bloodied mouth.

Finally, Ren seemed like he had enough of this scuffle, and raised his knee up, slamming it into Lukali's back. The attack caused Lukali to falter, his body leaning in closer to Ren's who grabbed his head with both hands, and smashed his own against his.

Blood trickled down their foreheads, but Ren was able to regain himself a lot faster than Lukali was, as the former took his head and placed it into a headlock, shifting his body around Lukali's.

The roles were now reversed, and Ren didn't not have the mercy nor the patience to hold back. As he sat there on his knees, Lukali's head underneath his arm, he continued to close the gap between his arms, choking Lukali out.

He was going to kill him, and he didn't even care.

"You thought you could win? You thought you could beat us? You're weak! Weaker than a child who just learned to walk! Weaker than the worst of Hunters!"

Ren wasn't thrown with him though, as he continued throwing insults at the young man, his eyes stricken with anger, blood pouring from his mouth.

The broken bits of his mask revealed all of this, and it made Ren's anger look even more horrifying. The grief of his lost brother at the hands of people he once deemed weak and fruitless pained him even more.

"You…"

His voice was seething with hatred.

"...you are nothing. Nothing - no more than the dirt beneath my feet."

Lia listened to all this, as she watched with pain as Luklai's body was slowly starting to cease its struggling. She tried to stand, tried to move but the pain in her back was too great.

"You are worth nothing more than your mother was."

Lukali struggled even more now, his voice filled with grunts and tightening gasps as the air left his lungs.

'Cain?!'

'He hit the spine. It will take some time to heal you Lia.'

'I don't have time! He's going to kill him!'

Lia crawled towards her sword, trying to use it as support for her frail body. However, that too failed as she fell back down to the ground with a thud.

'Cain! Hurry!'

Her voice betrayed the urgency as she watched with horror as Lukali's body continued to slow down, his grunts and gasps fading.

'It will take only a moment. Just a moment!'

Cain's voice was also urgent as he knew what would happen to Lia if Lukali died here. It was an outcome he wanted to avoid at all costs, no matter the effect, clearly heard in his voice filled with frustration as he yelled out.

'Come on! Heal faster damn it!'

But it wouldn't work, and they both knew it, as they watched Rian also struggling to stand up. At once they both came to a conclusion.

'The blades were poisoned.'

Lia turned to Lukali's body, his feet kicking against the ground, her voice filled with worry and grief as she knew there was nothing she could do.

"No, no, no! No! Kill me, not him! Stop!"

Rian also called out in fear, his voice deep and bellowing, as the night sky carried traces of the stars and the moon's glow, dying the street in a pale light.

"Lukali!"

They both called out, though in vain, as they watched their struggling friend slowly cease to be.

It was then she felt it…

A chance in the air, a bushing of the wind against her warm and smooth skin. Her senses screamed, her eyes widened at the split second moment she knew it would all change before her very eyes.

A woosh of the air, a bush of the skin against cool leather, and finally, that unmistakable sound steel tearing through flesh, blood and skin. The feeling of warmth came over Lia, as her face was splashed with blood not her own.

The scene before her hand changed, and with it, she no longer watched as her friends once dying body was struggling, now she saw a different tune to the song of the scene.

A dagger, long and sharp, cutting through the skin and flesh of the man known as Ren, whose head was sent flying through the air.

'Wh…what…what happened?'

Ren had only a moment to think as his head flew through the air, spinning around to face his attacker. He watched his body fall to the ground, blood pouring from the open wound across his neck, and the frightened body of Lukali scrambling back away from the scene before him.

Where Ren once thought to find Lia, Rian - hell, even Kara having turned traitor on him - he found a face that hurt his heart all that much more.

White.

Two pairs of white eyes stared back at his burning red eyes.

'Ken…'

This was the last thought he had, as his life slipped from his grasp.

A fruitless death, for a fruitless man.