Freedom Through Harmony: Book II

by Electricut

Fifty-four

Fifty-four
Intermission

Years in the future, minus several…

A stiff wind echoed across the ashen hills, through the scrubby grass. The remains of a campfire atop the fire-scorched lands remained on the ground, but its kindlers were far ahead.

Three young soldiers stood before the once great city of Eclipse. The outer walls were completely collapsed in some places, partially intact in others. This seemed to be the pattern for the entirety of the outer city; some buildings were relatively sound, while others were little more than scorched rubble littering the cracked and broken streets.

However, deeper into the city, on the edge of the broken mountain it had been built into, the castle of Eclipse was a complete ruin. The attacks that had ravaged the city left almost nothing behind. If there was anything left of the structure, it was buried under the piles of debris.

“Weapons at the ready.” Bon Bon said, taking charge. “Minuet could be anywhere out here, and I am just as unfamiliar with this place as you are. Move slow, don’t tense up, and stick together.”

Lyra and Octavia nodded, and the three moved carefully through a broken section of wall. Remains of soldiers remained within the walls of Eclipse; armor and weapons, and so many bones picked clean. Octavia wanted to leave this place, but in her mind, she remembered this woman’s crimes. She had ripped her and Lyra from their home, their own timeline. The two of them were pawns in a twisted game of hers, tools for the Order’s goals, bait to bring Scratch right where they wanted him. She was taking a risk stepping within this burned-out city, but she knew that it was more of a risk to sit idle, and Minuet and the Order had too much to pay for.

Each shadow cast by the standing rubble, each beam of light caught by the shattered glass, played at the corners of Octavia’s vision, keeping her alert for any movement. The only sound was that of her own- and her companions’- footsteps and short breaths.

The sound of an explosion broke the silence, and the three heads turned to see the light of the blast two blocks down the broken street. They nodded to each other and began picking their way there, quickly but cautiously. Their opponent likely knew they were approaching, but they still had to be careful for traps. All bets were off now; the winner of this battle took all.

Octavia had an arrow ready when they reached the clearing. Lyra’s crossbow and Bon Bon’s kusarigama were held at the ready as well. They stepped into the square, and while traces of the explosion still lingered, their adversary was nowhere to be seen.

Bon Bon stiffens and turns on her heel, kusarigama raised defensively. Minuet’s sword clashes with her blades, filling the dusty ruin with the sound of colliding metal. Minuet grinned wide, before she pivoted on her feet and spun around Bon Bon, coming to rest in the center of the town square.

“How nice of you to join me.” she greets them. “The ruins have been waiting. All of the wasteland will be watching with bated breath.”

“I hope that, if nothing else, you are true to your word.” Octavia said. “If we win, you return us to our world.”

Minuet nodded. “That’s right. And if not, well… You’ll be spending some more time with me and the Order.”

That was all they needed to hear. Lyra aimed and fired a crossbow bolt. Minuet raised her sword to deflect it, but saw the glint of an arrow from Octavia’s bow approaching. She spun on her heel, deflected Octavia’s arrow, and narrowly dodged Lyra’s attack.

Bon Bon leaps at her, weapons raised, and her blades collided with Minuet’s. The pair exchanged a series of blows before the next pair of projectiles sailed towards them, and Minuet managed to dodge both again. However, this left her wide open to Bon Bon’s next attack, and she took full advantage, sliding in and slicing at her midsection. Minuet flinched back, angered, and rushed forward again with a series of swings. Bon Bon was able to block and dodge most of the attacks, but the last slice hit her in the leg, hard enough to bruise.

Lyra moved in, combat knife raised, and sliced across Minuet’s back. Preoccupied with Bon Bon, she hadn’t been able to block, and spun around to defend against a possible second attack. Lyra leaped back, crossbow already in hand, and fired. Minuet sidestepped, sword raised, and blocked another leaping attack from Bon Bon.

Octavia readied a third arrow and aimed it. Minuet caught her movement before the shot was fired, and she dashed towards her, sword raised. Octavia ducked out of the way, loosing her arrow into Minuet’s side. The Order agent tumbled to the ground, but pulled the arrow from her side, dark energy flowing around the wound, sealing the hole.

Minuet smirked, and cast her hand into the air, more dark energy emanating from it. Patches of the ground turned dark, and the tall, dark, clawed forms arose once again. Before they had finished being summoned, the girls had already slain five, but there were fifty more to take their place. Octavia clutched an arrow between her fingers, sliced at one of the forms with it, stunning it for the two precious seconds it took to arm the arrow and fire into another of the monsters. A third swung its claws at her, and she was only just able to duck under the attack. She lifted her right leg and kicked at the form’s feet, sending it toppling into the ones behind it, then rolled away from the fray.

She popped to her feet and fired another two arrows into the crowd. One of the creatures leaped at her, but a crossbow bolt from Lyra hit it in the back of the head, and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. In the split second of calm, Octavia could see both of the other girls fighting away at the forms, Minuet still dueling with Bon Bon. Octavia readied an arrow and fired it at one of the creatures who was about to pounce on Bon Bon, then turned her attention back to those approaching her.

She dodged backward again, allowing the first of the beasts to charge past, and kicked it to the ground. An arrow sailed from her bow into the head of the next one in the charge, and she quickly retrieved her combat knife and stabbed it into the head of the third. The first was back on its feet now, and she leapt towards it and finished it with her knife.

A beast leaped at her while she was still on the ground, and it rent into her side with its claws. She grimaced and stabbed it in the chest, but it didn’t cause enough damage to dispel it. She grappled with the beast and ended up on top, then retrieved her blade and stabbed it in the head, this time finishing it. Another three were already leaping at her, but she managed to roll out of the way. She dropped her knife and retrieved her bow, shooting one while still on the ground, then scrambled to her feet and dodged the next attack. She kicked one’s feet out from under it, then shot the third, before turning around and finishing off the second.

Octavia swiftly retrieved her knife, and raised it to block against another attack. The beast was quickly dispatched, but behind it stood Minuet, sword moving slowly, tauntingly. She dashed towards Octavia, and she managed to block with her knife and sidestep. Minuet was quicker, however, and spun on a heel and slashed at her back. Octavia reeled from the attack and stumbled forward, right towards a waiting shadow form. She raised her arms and drove her knife into it, deep enough to kill it, and righted herself in time to block Minuet’s next attack.

Caught up in the fight herself, Minuet hadn’t summoned any additional shadow forms, and the crowd was beginning to thin out. Lyra bashed one of the creatures out of the way with the butt of her crossbow, then aimed and fired at Minuet. The bolt struck her in the arm, and she growled in anger, lunging towards her.

Lyra dodged out of the way, but could not get enough distance past the shadow form behind her. She spun and bashed it out of the way, but her back took the brunt of a slice from Minuet’s blade. She cringed in pain, then lashed back around, combat knife clutched in one hand, and exchanged a series of blows with the swordswoman. Bon Bon leaped in from the side, and while Lyra turned to fight off the remaining shadow forms, Bon Bon kept Minuet’s sword at bay.

While Octavia took a moment to breathe, a lull in the action once the shadow forms began to thin, she heard a noise from elsewhere in the ruins. She turned her head, and saw several raiders making their way towards them, clad in filthy makeshift armor, clutching rusty swords, but with a burning determination in their eyes. Whatever Minuet had promised them, they would fight to the ends of their lives to get it.

Octavia nocked an arrow and fired at the approaching savages, hitting one square in the chest. He fell, and she fired two more shots before they reached the scene of the fight. Octavia ducked under one of their clumsy swings, releasing her readied arrow into his chest point-blank, then dodged backwards, hand on her knife. A shadow form was awaiting behind her, and it was able to get a solid attack in before she slayed it, leaving an ugly but shallow gash on her arm.

She readied her bow, knife still held in one hand, and shot another of the raiders, then blocked a subsequent arcing swing from one of their swords. The air around her was filled with the awful sound of metal scraping against rusted metal, until she slid under his attack and jabbed her elbow into his gut. He tumbled back, throwing off the raider behind him, but a third approached from the side, a short ax clutched in his hands. He approached cautiously, yet quick enough to keep from Octavia the time she needed to ready an arrow.

She dodged out of the way of his first attack, combat knife held aloft. He swung again, an overhead strike, and it was simple enough for her to sidestep around the attack, getting close enough to attack him up close. He had enough armor to prevent the attack from being fatal, but Octavia was able to hit hard enough to push him back while she dealt with the next customer. The raider lunged at her with a slightly bent lance, and she put one hand on the end of the handle, using the momentum to slide in and slash at the lancer. He fell, and Octavia turned her attention back to the axman, slashing towards her again.

Octavia sidestepped, but dove forward before he could adjust his course. She came to a roll, leaped up behind him, and thrust her knife into his back. The ax clanged to the cracked cobble below, and Octavia spun her head around to view the battle, without dropping the raider and leaving herself open at the front. There were few shadow forms left, but the raiders were holding their own against the other two with the assistance of Minuet.

Octavia moved to the side, adjusting her aim, and dropped the raider approaching Lyra from behind. Another raider nearby noticed and made a move to charge at Octavia, but he was slain as quickly as his companion.

Minuet spun her sword around after a parry, then delivered another series of strikes to Lyra. Equipped with only her knife, she was only able to block one of the attacks, while the other three slipped past her defenses. She stumbled to the ground, but Bon Bon was already standing between her and Minuet, parrying more attacks and protecting Lyra. However, without Lyra to watch her back, she began taking more hits from behind while focusing all her effort to the front. Octavia kept up her cover fire, but she couldn’t prevent every attack.

Octavia drew closer to the fray, protecting Bon Bon as best she could while reaching for Lyra. She was wounded, but still had some fight in her, and was firing her crossbow furiously. She allowed Octavia to pull her away from the fray and to her feet, and while her wounds were clearly giving her pain, she was still able to stay upright. Together they were able to keep the raiders away from Bon Bon while she dealt with Minuet, but soon the swordswoman realized that the fight was not going in her favor.

She rushed forward, sword raised. Octavia and Lyra did not have time to dodge, and while they were each able to land a hit on Minuet, they were both struck to the ground by her blade. A moment later, Bon Bon leaped at her, delivering a powerful hit on her back and drawing her attention back from the others.

Octavia struggled to her feet, and glanced at Lyra. She was alive, but grimacing through the pain. She nodded to Octavia, telling her to keep fighting, and began struggling to tear away some cloth from her shirt to dress the wounds. Octavia nodded back, and released several more arrows. Her quiver was beginning to feel light, and a dull buzz filled her head. Bon Bon leaped upward, bearing down on Minuet, and she held her sword horizontally to block. Bon Bon smiled, spinning the left blade underneath the sword, slicing at Minuet’s arm, while the right blade clanged against her weapon.

Minuet snarled, angered by this farce, and jabbed her elbow forward, throwing the warrior off-balance. She landed three powerful hits before Octavia’s arrow connected, sending her reeling back to pull the projectile from her side. Bon Bon stumbled, and one of the remaining raiders saw his chance. Octavia reached for an arrow, but her quiver had finally run empty. She grimaced, drew her knife and charged, but not before the raider had hit Bon Bon over the head with the hilt of his sword, hard enough to knock her unconscious.

Octavia grabbed him around the neck, driving her knife deep into his chest, then shoved him to the ground. At this point, the raiders were beginning to grow wary, and some had already fled the scene, seeing the bodies of their comrades littering the ground. Those that stayed kept their distance, leaving Octavia facing off against Minuet alone. Both were wounded, but neither showed signs of backing down.

Octavia moved first, running low to the ground with knife held defensively. Minuet smiled, ready for what Octavia had planned. She positioned her blade to defend against Octavia’s attack, and when the smaller blade flipped around to strike at an undefended area, Minuet’s followed. She had been victim of one farce already, and wasn’t falling for it again. The blades connected, and the sound rang across the clearing for a brief moment, before Octavia pulled away on one heel and dove in for an overhead strike.

Minuet defended again. Octavia’s eye twitched involuntarily. She was not sure what, but in that moment, something changed in the flow of battle. She leaped back, defending against a pursuit attack from Minuet, and grabbed a short sword from the ground near a dead raider. It was rusted almost beyond the point of usefulness and the balance was off, but it would give her some extra leverage in the battle, and a bit longer reach. She blocked against another attack, then pushed back to the offensive, always blocking with one blade while slashing with the other, forcing Minuet to redouble her efforts to defend.

Octavia heard a commotion on the edge of the battlefield, the remaining raiders seemingly under attack. Octavia didn’t have time to glance over and look, and could only guess that Lyra or Bon Bon was back on their feet and was fighting them off. Octavia blinked, refocusing on the battle, and swung the short sword overhead. Minuet dodged out of the way, then blocked her knife strike. She was quickly adjusting to the pace of the battle, and Octavia knew that she had to land a few hits quick before she was pushed to the defensive again.

She lunged forward with the knife, sword held over her head in an attempt to defend. Minuet dodged out of the way, slashing at her and hitting her square in the back. It wasn’t a clean hit, but thanks to her worn but still functional combat armor, Octavia wasn’t badly wounded. Still, she winced as she pulled herself back to her feet. Viewing the battlefield, she sees that there wasn’t a single raider or shadow form left standing, yet Bon Bon was still unconscious, and Lyra had moved herself to the edge of the clearing and was watching worriedly. Something had come through and destroyed the opposition.

Minuet spun her sword around once, cockily, before a blurry form leaped up behind her and bore down with a rusty blade, no doubt pilfered from the dead. Minuet sensed the attack a split second before it connected; not fast enough to avoid being struck and tumbling to the ground. The attacker was human in shape, but barely visible; it was a foggy white, edges seeming to wisp away into the air, and it could be seen straight through, appearing remarkably like a ghost. However, the blade in its hand was real enough.

Octavia moved forward, and while Minuet was able to block, her attention was divided between her and the ghost. Together with the apparition, Octavia managed to deliver several powerful hits to the Order agent, before she became enraged and began regaining control of the battle. She started by swinging around and delivering a series of powerful attacks to the ghost, after which it seems to evaporate and fade away. She then turned to Octavia, a smile on her face.

“Look’it you.” she commented. “Quicksilver almost had me convinced that your sister was the only one who could use that skill. Looks like it does run in the family! He owes me twenty bits.”

“The ghost?” Octavia asked, confused. “That was me?”

“Sure was. Didn’t notice that it had the same hair as you? Guess it was a subconscious thing… Ah well.”

Minuet thrust forward while Octavia was distracted. She was able to deflect the hit, but not the following sweep, and was thrown to the ground, hitting her head on the cobble.

A crossbow bolt sailed in and struck Minuet in the leg. She flinched and turned to see Lyra, smirking at the edge of the clearing. Minuet began making her way over to the edge, careful to avoid a second hit, and didn’t see the arrow approaching from behind. Octavia had scooped up one of her spent shots and fired it again, bloodied but still sharp. Minuet was struck by the shot in the back, and cursed in pain. Instead of turning to deal with Octavia, she rushed forward and dropped Lyra with a powerful roundhouse kick. It wasn’t enough to kill her, but it seemed to be enough to knock her unconscious.

After Lyra was dealt with, she moved back to Octavia, pulling her up off the ground by her collar. Octavia made a move to jab at her with her knife, but Minuet angrily knocked it out of her hand.

“Good fight, all of you.” the Order agent conceded. “But surely you must have known it was rigged from the start. For your efforts, I’ll even bring your friend back with you. I planned on just bringing you and leaving her here- you’re the only one we really need- but she’s earned a place in the Order’s grasp, don’t you think?”

“Bon Bon…?” Octavia asked, short of breath.

“She’ll be staying.” Minuet told her. “I’ll throw people into alternate timelines any day, but I’m not bringing any alternate timeline filth back to the alpha timeline. So I hope you said your goodbyes to her before you got here.”

Minuet shifted something under her cloak, and Octavia felt a jolt of energy run through her. Immediately, her vision swam before her, before going dark.