//------------------------------// // Daybreak: Prologue - The Coming Storm, Part III // Story: Sigil of Souls, Stream of Memories // by Piccolo Sky //------------------------------// Flash never hesitated. He was already running down the hall as best as he could. Sunset, with what little strength was in her agonized body, could only wrap her arms around his neck and cling as he had to carry both guns with either hand. It wasn’t long before he came to the next arched threshold. There were already two soldiers right there, standing over the bodies of their own targets. They turned to him and began to advance. Using the fact they didn’t fire right away, he seized his advantage by hefting one of the bayoneted rifles like a javelin and flung it into the skull of the one on the left. It embedded, instantly felling him, and leaving the other one surprised long enough for Flash to raise his other weapon and fire a shot into his breastbone. The cry he gave sounded almost more like a gorilla than a man as he collapsed. The entrance was now clear, but the royal guard didn’t go that way. He quickly snapped to one side and ran into the nearest side chamber. Since Sunset was on his back, he had no choice but to kick the door with one foot and charge in. The sound of more soldiers mobilizing in the hall that had been in front of him as well as those charging out of the room he had been in grew louder as he dashed inside. A few of the palace staff were cringing in terror within, and on seeing him storm inside they only shrieked and shielded themselves, but he paid them no mind. He only stopped long enough to go for one of the lances mounted on the wall behind a coat of arms. He yanked it off and then headed straight for the window. Sunset nearly gasped, knowing how many stories it was up, but he didn’t hesitate as he ran to it, undid the latch, and ran outside onto the scarcely 50 centimeter ledge running around that level of the palace. In moments, she was outside again and looking down over a precarious, straight drop of two hundred feet before hitting a secondary roof. Even lower than that before hitting the pavement. The royal guard barely gave it any mind as he began to work his way along the walkway to the right, back toward the docking tower. As hard as it was to stay balanced with her on him, he moved as fast as he could. She was still bewildered by what had just happened. It left her speechless along with the fear of the heights as he walked. “You really can’t use your magic anymore.” She looked up again. “Wha…? How-” “I knew something was wrong the moment I saw your symbol on your hand was gone. I never saw you acting that scared be-” He was cut off by the sound of breaking glass. Quickly planting his feet and brandishing his spear, he guarded as the windows in front of him burst. Two of the burly soldiers leapt out and faced him. One, however, was too close to right himself. Flash quickly went in and drove the tip of his lance into his foot the second he landed. He yelped in pain, rising up on it, and immediately losing his balance and tipping over the side. His yelp turned into a cry as he began to fall. His partner raised his gun, but Flash quickly advanced, held his spear up, and performed two short swipes: one to knock his gun aside and the other to advance and open a bloody gash across his neck. The soldier’s voice cut off in a gag, and as he clutched for his throat he stumbled back inside the window he had just come from. Keeping the spear ready, Flash advanced past the windows as fast as he could. Not a moment too soon. Two more soldiers leapt out not long after, with more coming from the windows behind. They hoisted their weapons and nearly fired, but saw that the target was on the royal guard’s backside and ruining their aim. Instead, they began to charge after him. A few did risk taking a shot or two for his legs, but by the time they decided on it he reached a corner. Pressing himself against the wall as best as he could, he went around it while swaying Sunset dangerously over oblivion. Nevertheless, he got out of range and a moment later, when the first soldier was struggling to make the same gesture with his ungainly size, he ran around another. Flash picked up the speed. “Not much time… They’ll cut us off soon… Even if you can’t do magic, try to get the strength to walk.” He ran on a bit further, shifting the lance back to one hand. However, he slowed down soon after and Sunset could see why. Up much farther ahead, but still before the aerial walkway leading to the docking tower, six of the windows broke one after another. More of the soldiers broke through to the other side. Just ahead of them, one of the wall access points opened. Four more soldiers poured out from there. These ones had melee weapons. The royal guard hesitated, seeing his way ahead cut off. He looked behind him and saw more of the soldiers were beginning to round the corner. He looked around a bit more before his eyes spotted something. As the palace was still being decorated for the upcoming coronation, one of the scaffold lifts with a “cherry picker” was extended to hang a banner. He quickly looked at it and the other side, did a judgment in his head, and then finally called behind him. “Hold on to me as tight as you can.” Sunset could do nothing but obey, quickly tightening her grip on him. Moments later, she found herself nearly pried off as he ran forward into a small enclave of windows. He only did so to get more running space. As the soldiers rushed in from both in front and behind, he charged back out of it and ran straight for the edge. Sunset panicked but held tight as he leapt off the side as best as his own weakened strength and weighted-down body could manage. The two sailed through the air a moment as he reached out with his one hand and his spear, then collided with the side of the scaffold lift; along the cherry picker. He quickly grasped it with his one good hand, as the momentum of their bodies snapped it loose from its bracings and sent them swinging across on top of it. Sunset was too panicked and pained to even cry out as her stomach did a loop, but the two of them managed to sail all the way across and to the thin ledge on the other side. The cherry picker smashed against it, but the royal guard cried out, partially in pain, and threw himself and her off and against the wall. It was a hard collision for him, but somehow he held. Now he was on the docking tower. The soldiers left behind were stunned at the move, left behind without any recourse, and finally started running the long way around. As for him, he grit his teeth, forced himself up, and began to run around the side again. He had to round the corner a bit more slowly this time. He was panting and heaving by now, and Sunset winced as she felt his sweat begin to sting her own burns and wounds. Yet on getting around the tower, the edge of Trottingham’s main city stretched in front of them. And just up ahead, the docking tower split apart into its separate levels, with the main airship hub right in front of them. The same ship that had brought them there was still there. There were some soldiers manning the dock, but none of them were the new ones in the service of the Storm King. Flash pushed himself to move faster to round the building to get to them. He was nearly in range to start shouting things over the din of the engines, but even before then one of the soldiers posted turned and spotted him along the side. He opened his mouth to call to him, but when he did Sunset heard only a gunshot. She saw the soldier go limp and collapse. Several other gunshots thundered out, these ones making Flash halt yet again. As the two watched, every last soldier posted at that dock fell to the ground dead. Soon after a troop of the black soldiers poured out from within the dock and rushed onto the sky bridge. It took only moments for one of them to turn and locate the two. As more soldiers poured out and were pointed in his direction, Flash hesitated. He looked around, but he definitely couldn’t go back, and the only way still ahead was the skybridge leading to the airship docks. There weren’t even windows here. As he kept looking he glanced down to the side. They were no longer at a precipitous drop, but the roof to the left of them angled downward until it reached the maintenance dock below, which received only smaller vessels equipped with tools and supplies for servicing the main dock. And the main dock overhead served as a roof so that it was mostly enclosed once one was at that level… Either the soldiers hadn’t heard Tempest’s order or didn’t care, for as soon as enough of them were out they all ran to the side and raised their weapons. Sunset’s stomach dropped again a moment later as the royal guard made his move. Bending down, he quickly squatted to the edge of the walkway and put his legs over the side. It was still a small drop to the sloping roof, but he lowered himself and Sunset as best as he could. One of the soldiers gave the order to fire and Flash quickly released. Both of them dropped the rest of the way and landed with a rather painful jar before they both slumped onto their sides; with Flash facing the soldiers and Sunset still on his back. They began to slide down the rooftop as the guns thundered. Tile and masonry were cracked and blasted around them, but the two quickly picked up speed and slid faster as the soldiers kept firing. Unable to do anything else, Sunset shut her eyes and hoped she wouldn’t feel bullets tearing her apart… Yet the shots stopped pounding around them as they picked up speed, and a moment later her eyes jarred open again as they both fell off the roof, free fell about ten more feet, and then landed roughly once again on flat ground. As her body and burns throbbed, Sunset looked up and saw she had finally disconnected with Flash on impact and fallen to one side of him. He too lay there in pain only a moment before he let out a strained grunt of his own. He quickly shifted his spear around and began to push up again. He managed to get into a squat, still straining and breathing hard, before he reached out and curled his free arm around her middle. “Up… Up… Almost there…” Somehow, he still had the strength to pull her up, and while it took her a moment herself she too somehow had the strength to let herself be put onto her feet. Her legs felt like jelly but he used his staff as a lever to anchor himself to support her while lifting himself. She winced and cried out from the burns; her eyes drifting over to him as he firmed his grip around her middle. Her eyes enlarged on spotting his side. A large red mark was in it. Fresh, wet, and rapidly growing. “You…your…” “Nothing. Ignore it,” he hissed through clenched teeth as he reached his feet. “Come on…” Sunset had seen enough death to know when a wound was serious, but she was in no position to argue as he somehow managed to pull her along. He was limping a bit himself now; using the lance as a crutch of sorts. It wasn’t long before the two hobbled into the covered maintenance dock. In spite of all of the work of decorating, there wasn’t much there. It was empty and unmanned. However, there were a pair of uncovered airship “tugs” for small loads of tools or supplies that were docked there. Both were aired up and simply tethered. Small, simple, and easy for two to man. Flash hobbled with her over to the nearest one, although even that short distance was almost enough to make her collapse. Once they arrived, he practically had to dump her into the open doorway, and she herself barely kept from falling by grabbing the braces around the controls. He moved over to the tethers and, not wasting time with undoing them, swung out with the lance tip and began to sever them one after another. Off went the first tie. Off went the second as Sunset grit her teeth and pulled herself to the controls. A loud clamor sounded behind them. Both turned and looked back, past where they had landed and to the skybridge to the maintenance dock. Both doors had been flung open to the main tower. Two dozen of the burly soldiers were running out. Flash stared at it for a brief moment as Sunset began to breathe harder. Then he turned around and quickly cut the third line. “Lady Sunset…I’m afraid I’ll be abandoning my post.” Sunset looked back to him. “Wh…what? What are you-” “This is where we part ways and my service ends. Just punch the tug to full and drift into the city. Don’t look back.” At that moment, she realized what he was doing on seeing he wasn’t making a move to enter the airship. He cut the fourth line and limped the short distance to the fifth. He readied his lance for it even as he started to sweat from growing pain. “Wait!” He paused. “Why…why are you doing this? You heard what she said in there. You saw how I treated everyone on the Rising Sun. You know I would have done the same to you. Why did you care for me? Why did you help me? Why are you helping me now?” Flash blinked once, extremely slowly. Then he simply smiled. As he brought the lance down to cut the last tie, he looked back up and met her eyes one more time. “I’m thanking you.” She looked back in confusion, but he was already pulling away. With one last gesture, he reached up for his helmet and unfastened it. Before she could say anything, he yanked it off and tossed it into her chest. “Keep your head down, my lady.” The tug continued to drift away from the dock as he turned back around, putting his back to her. He stopped again on doing so. The soldiers were already out and most of them had guns naked. They were picking up speed, rushing to intercept both him and Sunset. Worst of all, there was a single figure standing behind them and closing as well with a cold look: Tempest herself. Her eyes never left Sunset. It was as if she had been focused on her ever since the moment she left the room. He stared at them several seconds. His breathing was getting more labored. His vision was starting to blur. Droplets of red ran off of his side and plopped on the ground. Sweat rolled off the tip of his nose. Just like eight years prior. The sole survivor looked as pale and lifeless as one of the dead. He sat in the remains of the western hall. More appropriately, he knelt there and only partially out of exhaustion. After what he had just been through, he should have been gasping for air or passing out. He wasn’t, though. And not just due to the stench of the corpses mounded around him and under him; forming a pyramid of the bodies. He paid no mind to them as their blood seeped into the remains of his clothes and armor, soaking him with their remains and fouling him even more than before. The ancient fortification he was in, the castle his great-great-great-grandfather had seen built and defended, was nothing but a shell of its former self. It had survived attacks from the Yaks and the Dragons through close to a hundred and fifty years of war only to be reduced to a hill of ruins and stones in a single night. Catapults, ballistas, and trebuchets were nothing compared to the might of a herd of Nighttouched bears. The twelve or so that attacked ignored bullet, shot, and spear alike and bashed away at the walls of the castle like they were nothing more than stacks of empty cans. The fortifications fell as easily as the rest of the city below, which by now was nothing but ruin and death. Only one out of ten citizens who lived there had managed to make it to the castle alive. Yet they fared no better than those who failed. Much of Greater Everfree had yet to know exactly what a true surge was like. Reports had come in that Cloudsdale had been struck by a sudden wave of Nighttouched and Light Eaters that poured out of Equestria by the thousands, but none had believed the rumors as to what followed. It was too horrific. Too nightmarish to fathom. Flash Sentry discovered that night it was far worse. His lord…the man he saw as his real father…died in the initial strike. Broken to bits by a single swipe of the bear’s paws. Flash wanted to strike it dead there himself and avenge him. He never even got the chance, for as strong as the bears were they were nothing but the beginning. Swarms of ravens and crows tearing apart those left on the battlements. Legions of rodents swarming the first floor eating the people there alive. Frogs, newts, centipedes, and all other manner of filth flooding the basement levels. Somehow, half of them stayed alive long enough to get to the inner halls. There, where he swore he would defend his lady, her family, and the citizens until his last breath. Then the Light Eaters came. They showed just how much his bravery and nobility meant to them as they simply walked into the midst of their wall of soldiers and slaughtered everything in their path. Again and again he seized spears from the fallen in an attempt to skewer the monster to keep it from reaching his lady. He never even got it to slow down before it dismembered her in front of him. Soon after, the screams of the civilians pierced his ears like daggers. Panic led the survivors to try fire, but it only attracted their foes and made them strike with greater ferocity. Death on every side. One-sided slaughter. Through the madness and misery, through the horrific bloody sights of his lord and lady gone, he could think only of their children. Only one hope left. Get to them. Get them out. Ensure the name lived on. Somehow he fought to the western hall. Somehow he reached the stairs. Somehow, in the chaos, he saw the corrupted fox creatures running down with the unmistakable remains of the three children of his lord and lady still stuck in their teeth. Then, it was only the guard. Was it only a single minute? Was it half the night? Flash remembered nothing. Nothing but pain and misery as blood and death surrounded him. Again and again they struck the fell beasts around them, but there were a hundred for each one that fell. A thousand. He saw his captain lose two of his limbs before he could no longer fight and was drug down. He saw his comrade beg him for help as he was already half-devoured in a bear’s jaw and rapidly vanishing down his gullet. Sights and sounds the most horrible war could never produce, and again and again his spear went out and spread blood. He no longer knew why. No longer for survival. No longer for revenge. Only because it was all he knew. He remembered his strength fading. He remembered the rats piercing his armor and sinking their teeth into his legs down to the bone. He remembered starting to fall and prepared himself. Most of all, he remembered the dawn breaking. Where fire had only drawn them in, the light of the sun sent them fleeing in pain and panic. They retreated, first to whatever shadows they could find, and then back out of the ruins, down the valley, and into the darkness from which they came. It extended all the way over the city now. Only the castle remained exposed. Only he remained on his knees in the remains of the creatures. And as the dawn broke to reveal nothing but silence, he knew the truth. Through fate or fortune, he was the only one left. And all else he had ever known, ever loved, or ever had was gone. He felt like he knelt there forever, although the sun’s position argued otherwise. It had scarcely cleared the horizon, still leaving the day tinted red and yellow with shadows everywhere, when he looked down. Amid the blood and carnage and the remains of his armor and clothes, he still held his broken, chipped spear tip on a tiny remnant of his shaft, like a dagger. He knew it would still cut. He stared at it a long time. Slowly, his other hand raised and placed itself on the handle. He turned it so that the tip was aiming downward, and angled it around to face him. He slowly turned the blade up until the tip rested against his torso. In his mind’s eye, he knew a good force from there would drive it underneath his ribs and into his chest cavity where the lungs and heart lay… A growl distracted him. He looked up again. In one of the larger shadows still remaining, he could see a Nighttouched still stood. Perhaps it thought he was dead before now, but the slight movement he made had gotten it to rise. This one was only a fox, but that was a relative term. He had seen several of them engorged to the size of dire wolves rip out the throats of his comrades that night in one lunge. This one was sizing him up, but it got no closer. The sun was shining around him and protecting him. However, he looked to the sky and saw it wouldn’t last. It was going to be a cloudy day, and while the sun was exposed thick clouds were already rolling across the sky. In a few minutes, they would obscure it again. It didn’t matter to him. Looking back down, he saw the fox, knew what it was going to do, and responded by simply loosening his hands and letting his spear tip fall out of them. He honestly hadn’t the strength to fight anymore, but even if he did he no longer had the desire. He stared right back into its pale shining eyes and did nothing. Nothing but wait for the clouds and then the inevitable. The light around him finally dimmed. The moment it did, the monster stepped out from the shadow and into the space between. It reared back, bared its teeth, and readied to leap. From the silence of the area, Flash heard a snap. A moment later, even he was forced to react in shock as the monster was engulfed in fire. Its rage turned into agony as it curled around itself and bellowed from the midst of consuming flames. It reared up and pitched around, but not only had the fires suddenly arisen, but they burned hotter than any common fire. Its very flesh was already being devoured. In moments, it was unable to move at all as it collapsed in a burning pile and soon after the blaze killed it—leaving only its remains slowly burning. Flash’s jaw hung, but he made no other move until he heard a sound from nearby. “Well, well…there’s actually a survivor.” He turned and looked. Standing casually on a bit of rubble from a ruined wall, arms crossed, and a confident smirk on her face was a girl scarcely younger than he was. Her hair was like fire and her eyes a vivid light green. She was dressed in a shabby, worn, full length coat that seemed used or, more appropriately, fished out of rubbish and mended. Yet what truly caught his eye was her hand. He was just in time to see an emblem with six sides and five symbols dim on it. She was looking right at him. “From the looks what’s left of your clothes, I’m guessing you were one of Trottingham’s Royal Guard, weren’t you? Oath of fealty to your local lord, and all that?” He didn’t answer. He stared back at her with his mouth still hanging. “I guess that title wasn’t just ceremonial, huh? You actually lived through a flood of these things.” She hopped off of the rubble and, without care, landed right on the piles of carrion. She began to pick her way over them toward him. “Pretty impressive. I didn’t think anyone could pull that off who didn’t have a Promethian Sigil at least. And with a spear too. But now you don’t have a lord or a lady to serve anymore.” She was almost to him when she stopped. She looked him over a moment, noticing the spear tip that had clattered out of his hands. She gestured. “I guess that’s what that was about, huh? More of that chivalry stuff. Death with honor, blah, blah…” His jaw slowly closed. He was over his initial shock now. His head slowly turned away from the woman and lowered to look at the spear tip. It was still there, in easy reach, and still an option. The girl said nothing for a moment, then spoke up again. “Well, Mr. Royal Guard, if you’re in need of someone you’re sworn to protect, why not me?” His dour demeanor broke in sheer surprise. A second time he looked up to the woman in alarm, who grinned back at him. “I can take care of myself and pretty much anyone or anything that comes along, but you never know. It’d be nice to have someone watching my back for knives. I’d be able to sleep with both eyes closed from now on, especially where I’m going and with what I have planned. And I did just save your life now. Isn’t that worth a new ‘oath of fealty’ or whatever?” He only knelt there open mouthed. She snickered, seeming to enjoy his hesitation. She bent over closer to him and held out her symbol-less hand. “Come on. What do you say?” He was quiet and still for a long time afterward. He looked between her and her outstretched hand several times. He looked out to the ruins of his castle and the remains of his friends, loved ones, and province. He looked again to the spear tip. He stared at it a long time. Nevertheless, he no longer looked as grim or as ‘dead’ as before. Not in the wake of what he had seen just now, and not in the wake of what he had just heard. Glimmers of light were back in his eyes. Traces of hope. Hope for honor. Hope for redemption. Hope to live up to his vow to give his life to save another. At last, his mouth closed. He took in a deep breath. While he could no longer stand, he forced his arms down and stiffly shoved himself around to face the woman. Once there, summoning all the energy he could, he propped himself up to one knee so that he could bow his head to her on his bent leg: pledging himself. The girl smiled in satisfaction, but what she never knew was it was nothing compared to the smile Flash felt on the inside. With a weak grin, he charged. It drove him into intense pain and sucked away not only stamina but what little vitality he had left, but he had never run so hard under his own power right into the closing creatures. The nearest one dead ahead immediately leveled his gun at him but was far too slow. He was only drawing the hammer back when Flash was on him and driving his spear tip into his chest, through his heart, and out through the other side. He gave a panicked, shocked choke as his arms faltered, but the royal guard went one step further. Not wavering or backing down, he heaved the heavier opponent onto him and kept charging forward…straight for Tempest. The rest of the soldiers immediately halted where they were, leveled their weapons, and opened fire. The air thundered with gunshots and Flash’s vision filled with red mist as one bullet after another tore into his “meat shield”. The body was practically ripped into pieces by the repeated firing. His bulk and armor took most of it, but it wasn’t a full second before Flash felt another pain shoot into his lower breast. Another embedded in his upper leg. Two more pierced his stomach…making every move agony. His eyes grew fierce and wild. Passion and valor behind his failing body forced him to go on. The shots continued to strike, and he finally began to lose speed, but he did not stop. Finally, the bullets abated. The royal guard’s assessment that they only held four at the most proved true as the soldiers were forced to break to reload. Crying out, he shoved forward and released his spear—letting the body of the soldier fall with it. When it landed, it revealed him still madly charging forward and now bearing the soldier’s weapon. By now, he was in the midst of the soldiers, with three still reloading in front of him and Tempest coldly marching onward beyond. He snapped the gun up as he kept limping forward. A shot later and one of the soldiers still reloading spasmed and fell. He cocked and fired again. The second one finished slamming the cartridges into his chamber only to collapse from a shot to the lung. The third finished chambering his own shot, raised, and fired. Moments later, a blast followed by a hot stinging pain rocked Flash as one of his ears was shot half off. The soldier had been so panicked he hadn’t aimed right. As for Flash, he now had a ringing as well as fading vision, and was slower yet, but somehow he cocked again and fired from point blank range. His shot did not miss its mark. As the third one fell, there was now nothing between him and Tempest. He could barely keep his feet moving. His arms were shaking and leaking blood over the weapon as he chambered the final round. Gasping, sweating, and the last light in his eyes fading, he took aim and, in his final moment of clarity, moved the small tip on the rifle right in between her eyes. With one last breath, he began to squeeze the trigger. Not breaking her gaze from Sunset, Tempest suddenly lunged forward and at an angle. Flash never even managed to finish depressing the trigger before she was already out of view and on him. While still looking at her target, she shot out a hand and seized him by the skull; effortlessly yanking his entire body into the air. Her hand gave a single sizzle before she discharged a bolt of plasma into his skull. A second later, the gun and a few pieces of his head fell to the ground. The rest of him went limp in her grasp. She didn’t even lose speed as she casually tossed what was in her hand to one side, letting it fly off the edge of the skybridge and fall to the ground below like it was discarded garbage. Her hand, still dripping blood, began to sizzle again as she focused on the tug up ahead. Its own small engines came to life and it had already drifted a good fifty feet away. Soon it was pulling away much faster under actual power. Tempest reacted by breaking into a jog. The airship tug was far from speedy, and even as it increased speed and distance it was still at a slow rate by the time she reached the edge of the dock. No more than two hundred feet away and only going 10 kilometers per hour. She simply aimed her hand out, coursed plasma between her fingertips for a moment, and then snapped out another bolt across the sky. In a split second, a gash was ripped across the tug from its own weak air sac all the way down and across its engine. A boom went out as the bag decompressed, followed by flames and smoke erupting from the gouge she had made. Gears crunching and grinding came next along with the sound of the boiler blowing, and the airship tug pitched forward and rapidly began to fall out of the sky. Yet before she trace its new path, it had already lowered enough to mix in with the urban landscape before sinking below the skyline. It continued to drift a bit farther, shooting several blocks out, before it finally vanished beneath the plumes of industrial smokestacks. Distantly, over the sounds of the rest of the city, a collision was faintly heard. Tempest lowered her hand and stared below. Slowly, the rest of the soldiers filed in around her, looking either to her or at the city as well. Her eyes didn’t move when she finally spoke. “Now that I think about it, I don’t recall seeing her symbol on her hand anymore.” The soldiers looked to her but said nothing. Not long after, she turned away and began to walk back, and those around her rapidly fell in behind. “Change of plans. Just find her and kill her. We have a lot of work to do and it’d be simpler to write that one off as a corpse.”