Original Vengeance Of The Dark

[Ezio Auditore]

Vengeance Of The Dark

Prologue: The Coming of the Darkness.

In the Holy Lands of Thaltea, millions of people lived happy lives, believing in their God and that his will would protect them from the countries around them that waged war with each other. However, this peace would never last. Thaltea was seen as a key strategic point in the wars around them, with extensive resources and no army whatsoever, it would be an easy victory. In one solitary week, the Kingdom of Damonia which lay west of Thaltea ravaged the countryside, laying waste to all who got in their way. In no time at all, the Grand Palace in the city of Narula was taken and Thaltea now belonged to the King of Damonia.

However, their victory was not as grand as it would seem. For as the leader of Damonia first tread his foot upon the green grass, darkness began to envelop his mind. Whether this was a punishment from God or some foul Demon of the nether regions no one ever knew, the only thing that was known is that the once Grand King of Damonia had become nothing more than a vessel. A vessel for the darkest of entities.

Monsters from the underworld began to appear everywhere and wrecked death and destruction wherever they touched. Humanity however, is a race of survival, they fought against these monsters and became stronger, they defeated monster after monster but no matter how many they killed, more kept coming. Not only were the monsters a problem, but the possessed King continued to wage war with not only his soldiers but the beasts of the underworld as though they were tame pets.

After thirty years however, when the King had dominated the world around him and forced the people to continue living on as his servants. A hero rose. No one knew this hero’s name, only that he was a young boy from the village of Hyru. He along with friends he gathered on his path, finally managed to confront the tyrant and after a long arduous battle, defeated him. The hero however, disappeared before celebrations could begin and vanished.

Some say he was a warrior sent down by God to end the punishment given to humanity all those years ago. Some say that the Hero’s mission had not yet ended and that he only disappeared, waiting to return the day he would be needed once more. It has been five hundred years since that final battle and history has become myth. The legend of the Demon King had long been forgotten and the only thing left remaining were Monsters from the underworld.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter One: The Forest.

A loud boom sounded in the middle of a forest, the birds flew like their lives were in danger and animals scattered like their lives depended on it. When the echo of the loud sound finally ceased, the only sound that could be heard was the loud panting of a seventeen year old boy stood over the lifeless corpse of a forest wolf. The boy had medium-length hair of a dark brown colour, his fringe swept to the right side of his face, neatly covering the top half of his eyes which were both light blue. He was roughly five foot ten inches in height and weighed little over ninety kilos. He was well built but maintained a sort of athletic gait which allowed him to be quite flexible and fast when he needed to be. His face was handsome and smooth but still had some of the babyish charms of a young man.

After he had finally finished panting he straightened himself out and picked up the short sword he had stabbed into the ground after the beast had fell. He wore a simple red unzipped jacket over a white shirt and blue jeans with a pair of white trainers. As he flicked the blade up and rested the blunt side against his shoulder, he heard a soft chuckle from a small distance away.

“My kill.” A light male voice spoke with tremendous pride. An eighteen year old boy finally came out of the shadows, smirking at the seventeen year old. He was six foot two inches tall and barely looked like he weighed over forty kilos. He was incredibly slim and wore a blue turtleneck jacket zipped all the way up and blue trousers all of which showed off the fact that he was quite slim. His hair was short and light brown whilst his eyes were dark blue. Despite his skinny build, he held over his shoulder in a roguish manner, a short barrelled rifle. Despite projectile weapons going out of fashion after the discovery of Gamite, a renewable energy source which could be harnessed into weapons such as plasma rifles, blasters and the like, this eighteen year old did not seem to care, as he treated it with the proper respect a gunman should give his gun.

“No way!” The younger boy shouted, annoyed at his friends declaration. “You just swooped in at the last minute and shot it once! I did all the damned work!” His voice was also light but had a slightly deeper tone than the other persons. His face had sweat dripping down from the sides and he noticed that his jacket had been ripped slightly on the arm where the wolf had swiped at him. He groaned, his sister would kill him when she saw it, she’d start screaming about him getting killed and leaving her to fend for herself etc.

"Heh, if you say so Danny boy, looks to me that you were starting to have your ass kicked." He smirked, noting the ripped jacket. He flipped the gun off his shoulder using one hand and in a single fluid movement had it pointed directly into Danny’s eyes. He smirked and pointed it down at the ground. "If it hadn't been for me and my good aim, you'd be a dead man right now baby.”

“Tch, yeah right. I was just about to kill it before you went and shot it Damon.” Danny Redford smirked at his friend, turned around and bent down to inspect the animals corpse. “C’mon, put your gun away and help me carry this wolf back home, sis is probably already pissed off because we’ve made her wait.” He quickly realized Damon wasn’t paying attention and spun round to glare at him.

“Ooh no, turn back around. I was having fun looking at your ass.” Damon Roughley said in a joking tone. Danny sighed at his friend and the pair readied the wolf to be taken out of the forest. As they began to head back from where they came, they heard a loud rustling just metres away from them. Danny, the faster of the two, had quickly recognized danger and drawn the blade from it’s sheathe behind his back. As Damon readied his gun, a wolf appeared in front of them. However, it wasn’t like a normal wolf. Wolves in this forest normally had gray fur and black piercing eyes, however the wolf in front of them had fur which varied in green and yellow and it’s eyes were purely yellow with no pupils whatsoever.

“Damn a monster, I was hoping we wouldn’t run into one.” Danny muttered under his breath to no one in particular. Damon had begun to raise his rifle towards the monster but the thing was too fast. Danny, seeing what the monster was about to do, charged towards Damon as the beast vanished with incredible speed. Danny’s timing however was perfect. As the monster was barely half a metre away, Danny’s shoulder crashed into the Monsters underside and sent it flying several metres away where it landed on it’s other side with a yelp. Damon thanked Danny with a simple nod and the pair prepared to battle the thing. After several moments of low yelping, showing that it was obviously in pain, it began to grown menacingly. It began to charge at Damon once again but this time he was prepared. In a flash, Damon had his gun at the ready and shot at the Monster.

The beast dodged but Danny had been prepared. Using his speed he charged forwards and slashed at the Monster as it sidestepped to avoid Damon’s bullet. His blade cut neatly through the side of the beast and is jumped back in pain. The battle was far from over however, as the beast walked slowly towards Damon’s side, the pair saw that the cut inflicted by Danny had already healed. This did not matter however, as everyone knew that if you inflicted enough damage towards a Monster, they would eventually succumb to death.

Danny decided that it was best to go on the offensive and charged forward, his blade at the ready in case something happened. Something did. The beast had obviously predicted this and just as Danny neared, jumped at him, mouth open for a killing blow. Danny fell backwards with the beast on top of him, his sword, which was positioned underneath the beasts neck, just managing to keep it from biting into his neck. The Monster got very close however as it managed to bite into his collar and rip it from the jacket. As it spat it out onto the ground, a loud shot was heard and the beast went flying off Danny.

Quick to react, Danny got back to his feet and seeing the Monster trying to get back up, stabbed his blade down into the Monsters side and twisted, finally killing the beast. Danny withdrew his blade from the beast as it began to dissolve into a fine mist slowly. Danny sighed as he sheathed his blade and turned to Damon who was leaning against a tree, catching his breath.

Danny picked up the remains of his collar and groaned. “Sophia is gonna murder me.” He said loudly, Damon cringed, he knew exactly what Sophia was like regarding Danny’s safety.

“I’d rather face another one of those monsters than your sister…” Damon said, smirking slightly as he imagined the torture Danny would be going through later on tonight.

“Well, we may as well get going.” Danny said, picking up his end of the stick that held the wolf they had killed earlier. Damon grabbed his and the pair set off once more. “Oh did I tell you, your parents have gone away for the week, you’re staying at mine, and boy, you know how much my sister hates you when I come home like this.” Danny ended this last part with an evil laugh whilst Damon groaned loudly at his impending doom.

 

[Ezio Auditore]

Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home.

Just on the outskirts of the forest stood a small cottage, completely different from the small but technologically advanced village of Reim that resided just a mile away. The outside of the cottage looked like any traditional countryside cottage with it’s stone walls and ivy growing up the side, however the inside was radically different. The walls were light yellow with several shimmering panels in various places. The larger one, a TV of some sort, showed the local news whilst others showed images of various people. Most of these images showed a family but seemed to be distorted for some reason, however a few of them showed in perfect clarity a pair of teenagers, one with long blonde hair and dark brown eyes whilst the other was Danny grinning widely while he hugged his sister tightly.

In the kitchen the sixteen year old Sophia Redford was busy cutting vegetables with a kitchen knife, awaiting her brother to return from his hunting trip with Damon. He hated it when he hunted because she knew they had plenty of food anyway so there really was no point. The petite girl of five foot two inches sighed loudly as she pointed the blade at a black square on the countertop and inserted the knife into it. Instead of creating a cut on the surface they blade simply fell through the surface and began to slowly descend. Once the knife had disappeared she tapped the black square and spoke softly the word “Ladle.” Her voice was quite light and soft. As she finished saying the word, a ladle began to rise up from the black square until it had completely come out and was simply laying there. She picked it up and began to stir the soup she had begun making.

As she stirred she heard the sound of the electronic door hissing open at Danny and Damon’s arrival. She heard Danny’s voice mention something about being killed and she knew that something had happened out in the forest. She took off the purple apron she wore and opened the cupboard where she hung it up, she put it away and took off the hair band which held her hair back and shook it out, letting her blonde curls fall onto her shoulders. She quickly made sure she looked presentable in her white shirt and simple blue jeans and walked into the living room where Danny and Damon were bickering about something. Sophia smiled at the pair before taking in Danny’s appearance.

His jacket was completely ripped to shreds and his jeans were dirtied. He bore several scratches along his face and pretty nasty looking scratches on his arm where his jacket was ripped. Sophia, aghast with his appearance, went mental. “For god’s sake Danny! One of these days you’re gonna leave me alone here!” She screamed at the top of his lungs, Damon cringed at the brutal tongue lashing Danny would now receive. However, Sophia turned her anger towards Damon. “And you! How dare you let him endanger himself like this! I take it you ran into some damned Monster huh! For Gods sake Damon! You’re older than Danny, you should be mature enough to know that it’s dangerous in the Forests!”

Once the teenage girl had stopped her screaming she turned from the pair and crossed her arms angrily. Danny and Damon shuffled their feet guiltily but didn’t know what to do. It was then that Sophia started to cry a little. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you two.” She sobbed, trying to hide her tears from the pair. Danny walked up to Sophia and wrapped her arms around her neck in an embrace.

“Don’t worry sis, you know I won’t let anything happen to me.” Danny told her, trying to alleviate the sadness that had overcome his sister. “Me and Damon can handle ourselves so don’t you worry about a thing.” He released her and turned her around so that she faced him. The tears she had shed smudged the little make-up she wore which surprised Danny as she normally didn’t wear any. “C’mon, let’s have dinner and chill out for the night alright?”

“Yeah Soph, let’s chill.” Damon smirked, looking into Sophia’s eyes from a distance. He placed his rifle on the nearby desk and sat down on the white, leather couch. Sophia nodded and turned around to finish her job in the kitchen. As she walked away, Danny noticed Damon still watching the spot when she had disappeared into the kitchen. Shrugging it off as one of Damon’s quirks he sat next to his best friend and turned the Holo-TV onto a silly movie.

“Damn man, my arms are killing me.” Danny moaned as he slid the remains of his jacket off and threw it into the nearby garbage bin. The cut on his arm had begun to scab so he just rested as his friend stretched out to relax.

“Should been more careful then buddy.” Damon smirked, winking at his friend. “See I’m all fine and everything, not a scratch on me.”

“Only because you’re too scared to do the rough and tumble fight up close.” Danny replied, smirking back at his friend. He tapped a black panel on the arm of the couch and mutter something, as he finished muttering a first-aid kit appeared and he began to tend to his wounds.

“Oh I’m always ready for the rough and tumble baby.” Damon said winking in a flirty manner as his friend. Danny sighed at the joke he had made and continued to fix his wounds.

“Shut up Damon, everyone knows you never get any.” Sophia remarked as she bought in two bowls of soup, she set them down on the coffee table and tapped the surface which made a bowl of bread rolls appear. She jumped nimbly over the coffee table and sat between the two boys as they began to wolf down the soup. She shook her head in disgust and sat back, watching the pair eat like rabid animals. “What am I going to do with you two?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, many miles away in the underground of Narula, three people sat around a simple wooden table in their main headquarters. The tallest of the three was a man. He had long dark hair which continued slightly past his shoulders and his fringe mostly covered his dark brown eyes, despite this his face was hard and appeared very tired yet handsome. He was quite heavily built and stood at roughly six foot four inches and his muscles showed even in the large black shirt he wore underneath his long grey overcoat. He wore standard issue military pants which were also gray and plain simple boots. He wore a single heavy looking glove which had strange looking jewels encrusted into it, most of which were either red or blue.

The woman sat across from him also had a dark complexion with dark hair and dark brown eyes yet she was quite small, standing at only five foot four. She wore a loose fitting white shirt underneath a black jacket with an extended tail which touched the heels of her simple black heels. She wore loose fitting camouflage cargo pants and a single glove on her left hand which had jewels similar to the males except most of the jewels were yellow or purple. She had her leg crossed and was tapping her other foot impatiently on the cold surface..

“All I’m saying is that the five hundredth year anniversary is approaching and the prophecy says that he shall awaken on that day to continue his path of destruction! There’s no sign of this hero so we should prepare for the worst!” The woman spoke angrily, drumming her fingers along the tabletop. The man across from her leant back into his chair and chuckled slightly.

“We can’t risk increasing our forces Mitsuki, we’ve already suspected as a possible terrorist group since the Folkheim incident.” The man’s voice was deep but had a tone which made it sound like he was quite intelligent whilst the woman had a light but demanding tone. “ ‘The Hero shall rise once more and bring salvation to the world of Sin.’ That too is in the prophecy my friend, one side of the prophecy cannot be fulfilled without the other. Surely you know this?” His voice had a patronising tone to it but he did not mean it in this way.

“Dammit Julius!” The woman known as Mitsuki Ayaki slammed her fist onto the table. “Surely you can see that something is happening! The Monster attacks have increased phenomenally and surely you’ve seen what’s happening in the streets! Riots, attacks, robberies and the like! They’ve all been increasing! The Darkness is returning once more! It’s all going to happen again!”

“Mitsuki, stop.” The third figure spoke in an incredibly soft and caring tone. The person who spoke was an unbelievably beautiful young woman. She barely looked over twenty years of age. She had wonderfully long brown hair and innocent brown eyes and an innocently beautiful face to match. Her skin was quite light and almost had a sort of pale composure. Unlike her cohorts, she wore a radically different outfit. Her too was pure white and whilst the upper body area was tight and clung to her body, the arms were incredibly baggy and had a ruffled appearance, making it appear like a dancers top. Unlike the others, she wore two gloves made of a white material instead of the standard black and had pure white and green jewels encrusted into it. Her pants were also tight and white and she wore simple white trainers. “Julius knows what will happen soon, he is just as worried as you are but shows it in a different manner.”

“Celeste, what have you felt lately?” Julius Argexis asked the woman how sat to his right. She looked up at him and nodded her head. “I see…”

“You see what?” Mitsuki demanded to be let in on their secret. “Tell me right now Celeste!” She looked angrily at the woman, despite their camaraderie Celeste Sato knew how vicious Mitsuki could be when she wasn’t in on important information.

“You’ve felt it as well Mitsuki, not as much as I have but just enough. The Darkness has come back and the scary thing it. It feels even more powerful than ever.” Celeste shuddered. “I can feel it all around me… It feels like it’s choking me, stopping me from breathing the light…”

Mitsuki looked aghast at her friend as she stopped her head down and calmed her breathing. “More powerful than ever? Even more than that time in Galagu?” Mitsuki remembered the time a large sect of the underworld broke free and attempted to destroy the village, however the three and their team had managed to neutralize the threat like their group has always done for the past five hundred years and save those that had survived.

Celeste looked in Mitsuki’s eyes and frowned. “A thousand times worse. It feels as though the final lock is about to be broken and… and HE will be awakened…” The other two knew what this meant but refused to say it out loud. “We must find the Hero if we are to… survive this.”

_________________________

P.S Ther is also a discussion thread if you want to comment on this story Discussion Thread

 

[Ezio Auditore]

Chapter Three: School’s End.

Reim High school. Situated on top of the largest hill just on the outskirts of the village, all students from the age of sixteen to eighteen years old attended. It was here that Sophia and Danny Redford along with Damon Roughley attended school. Damon being the oldest of the trio was in his final year and already looking forward to the long period of time where he did absolutely nothing, before going to the big city for university. Danny however still had two years to go whilst Sophia was a freshmen and had only just begun.

~~~~~

“Wake up Mr. Redford!” An old, balding teacher shouted as he slammed a ruler down on the table next to Danny’s head. In a moment he was up and the giggling began. He turned around to smirk at the laughing people and quickly felt something smack against the back of his head. “Have a nice dream Redford?”

Danny glared at the teacher before breaking into a grin. “Sorry teach, I was up late last night with Damon and my sis.” The teacher sighed before turning back to his lesson. Danny was tired, he and Damon stayed up most of the night playing holo-games whilst Sophia watched absentmindedly. The bell rang for the end of first lesson and Danny quickly packed his bag before throwing it over his shoulder and leaving the room.

As soon as he left a familiar voice carried over the crowd “Hey! Danny! Over here!” Sophia shouted as she left her freshmen science class. Danny nodded at her and made his way through the crowd to his sister, before letting his speak she immediately went into a full blown rant. “That bloody science is hard! I absolutely hate it! Mr. Weldon can shove a stick up his arse!” Danny chuckled at his sisters rant and patted her on the head.

“Calm down now sis, it’s only Weldon.” He winked at her and rubbed his eyes again. “Man I really need some sleep, Damon’s parents should be home by now so we should be able to actually get some sleep now.” The pair left the corridor and Danny turned to his sister “So what cha got next anyways?”

Sophia quickly took out her planner and looked before replying. She groaned loudly as she saw what subject she had next. “Maths. With Mrs. Vernon.” Danny burst into laughter, The Vernonater was the schools most hated teacher due to her short temper and inability to teach, Sophia glared at him and he quickly shut up. “Fine then, what do you have?”

“P.E” He winked at her, she groaned again, she knew the only reason he enjoyed that subject was because the female teacher often wore tight short tops and tiny shorts. Sophia slapped Danny jokingly just as the bell went for next lesson. “I’ll see ya later kiddo!” Danny shouted as he ran off to the changing rooms. Sophia sighed as she walked off to her next lesson.

~~~~~

“Can I help you?” The young male receptionist asked the soldier in full battle equipment who had just walked in. The man was tall and dressed in a black combat suit with a black helmet which completely covered his face. The visor was tinted and he held an Plasma Assault Rifle in his hands.

“Yeah, y’know what?” The man asked, his voice was slightly distorted as it came out of the suits built in speaker. “You can.” As he said these last words he pulled out a small, handgun which was also black and fired what appeared to be a blue laser into the very centre of the man’s forehead. As he holstered the gun he tapped his free hand to the side of his helmet and spoke clearly. “Base, this is delta leader, infiltration of Reim High School is complete. Delta team, move out!”

At these final words twenty men in identical dress to the leader began to move into the building, at the ready to kill everyone inside. The man began to chuckle but quickly stopped as he heard something fall to the ground in the receptionist room, in the corner another staff member, a woman was sat, her hands inches away from the Alarm. “Shit!” The man swore as he went to shoot her with his rifle which was still slung across his shoulder. However he was too late, as he fired the rifle at the woman, allowing a blue line of light to exit the chamber and head towards her, she pressed it.

The alarm blared and an announcement came in over the tannoy. “Could all students please evacuate the building. This is a Red Light Emergency. I repeat; Could all students please evacuate the building. This is a Red Light Emergency.”

The soldier swore loudly and he slammed his fingers against the side of his helmet as the woman fell to the ground dead. “This is Delta Lead! Hurry it up and kill ‘em all!” The man ran into the hallway where his men had gone into and followed the nearest group. The squad had split into two separate teams to take out each side of the building, by the end of today, this school was to become a bloodbath.

~~~~~

“Aww man, another drill?” Danny’s classmate Adri moaned as the alarm came on. The pair left the gym hall with the rest of the class. Adri lead the way and laughed out loud, Danny wondered why and didn’t even have to ask to get a response. “Man, they really are taking these drills seriously ain’t they?” Danny looked at where he was pointing and saw ten men dressed in black army drab. Something about this didn’t seem right.

“Targets at twelve o’clock.” One of the men said, the group readied their rifles and Danny sensed something was wrong.

“Into the corridor!” He shouted, pushing as many people as he could around the corner. Adri looked at him weirdly but Danny didn’t care, he had to get as many people out of the way as possible for reasons he couldn’t quite explain, until now.

“Engage.” The soldier ordered, as soon as he said this blue light came out of the ends of the rifles and in an instant, Adri was felled to the ground. Several others fell also but Danny has somehow managed to save himself and a few others by pushing them into the next corridor. The group ran in a panicked rush with the assailants hot on their heels. Danny ran past the windows that looked down into the halls as a huge block of strange blue light rushed past them into the nearby wall, causing the wall to explode throwing debris everywhere and collapsing the path ahead.

“Dammit!” Danny shouted as he managed to just make it past the falling debris before it completely sealed off the passage. He and two other, a girl and a boy were alone in the hall as their classmates could be heard screaming trying to get through. The weird sound of the plasma rifles could be heard and suddenly all was silent. The girl started to sob silently as the boy stood trembling beside her. Danny however seemed calm, despite feeling terrified inside. “You two. What are your names?” Danny swore in his head, despite being a student alongside these two for a year, he didn’t know them at all.

“Brittany.” The girl sobbed out. She was smaller than Danny by almost half a foot and had long strawberry blonde hair and dark blue eyes with a Caucasian complexion. She had a petite figure and was wearing the typical gym clothes of a simple white top and blue shorts. She appeared to have a cut on her leg and was having to use the tip of her toe to hold her steady so that she wouldn’t put pressure on it.

“Jet. Know what the hell’s goin’ on at all?” The guy seemed very arrogant, he had cropped black hair and dark brown eyes. He was wearing a black shirt with matching black shorts. He was glaring at Danny which made hi feel somewhat uncomfortable and annoyed.

“Why the hell would I know? I’m in the same situation as you are in case you didn’t notice.” Danny replied to the boy as scornfully as Jet spoke to him. “Come on, we need to keep moving before they find us.” The pair nodded and they began to head onwards. Brittany stayed close to Danny whilst Jet covered the rear in case any more soldiers appeared. “Stay here.” Danny ordered the pair as they reached the end of the corner.

“Why?” Jet demanded, his tone once again full of arrogance. Brittany, who preferred to have herself be called B groaned slightly at Jet’s tone which earned her a scornful glance but he shut up anyway. “Fine, but hurry back or we’ll get going by ourselves.”

Danny nodded before replying with his own warning. “If I’m not back in five minutes, head to the old shack behind the forest to the east.” It was where he, Damon and Sophia went whenever they decided to ditch class for an hour or two. The pair agreed with him and Danny turned the corner, leaving the two behind.

It wasn’t long before Danny heard something approaching. Just before he reached the next corner, the sound of someone’s shoes hitting the ground could be heard. There was no way to hide, if he turned around to go back the way he came then he would be completely out in the open and likely to be killed. From the sounds of it there was only one soldier approaching, surely if he got the drop on him he’d be able to take out one single soldier?

He put his back against the wall as flat as he could as the shadow of the soldier began to appear around the corner. Danny slowed his breathing, so as to make sure he was not heard but the deafening thud of his heart was in his ears and he cursed silently. As the mans boot hit the ground just beyond the corner Danny charged, crashing into the man as he walked another step forwards. They fell into the opposite wall and quickly recovering, Danny went to strike the mans face with his elbow just before recognizing who it was.

“Damon!” Danny shouted as his best friend groaned and stood up from where he fell. He was wearing the black army gear the soldiers were wearing, he even had the rifle the soldiers had and up close he noticed that he had a type of handgun holstered on his waist.

“Finally! I’ve been looking all over for you!” Damon exclaimed happily. Now that Damon had been found Danny was relieved but he was still terrified about the fate of his sister. Obviously Damon could tell Danny was worried about his sister. “Don’t worry about Sophia, I was with her when this started. I sent her on ahead to the old shack before they got to us.” Danny sighed in relief.

“That’s good. C’mon, we need to get moving before those soldiers find us. There are two people a few corridors back from where I came, we need to collect them and then head to the old shack.” Danny told Damon. He agreed silently and the pair began to head back to where he had left B and Jet. As they jogged back to the corridor Danny asked Damon a few questions. “Where’d you get that equipment anyway?”

“I got the drop on a soldier while he was checking to see if there was anyone left in the classrooms.” Damon explained to Danny. “It seems all they’re doing here is killing… It’s like they’re just sanitizing us all…”

“Why didn’t you take the helmet? You could have easily snuck around like a real soldier if you had it.” Danny asked Damon as they reached the end of the corridor and turned around the corner which lead them near the maths room.

“I tried but it had some sort of privacy configuration of something that only allowed one person to use it. I tried to put it on but I got the shock of my life.” Damon explained, Danny nodded at him. “Hey, you might need this if we run into soldiers.” Damon stopped which Danny quickly mimicked. Damon took out the handgun which was simple and black. It was a plasma handgun like the rifle and Damon handed it over. He also gave a quick explanation of it use. “I’ve seen this kind of gun before. It uses Gamite as ammo and has a built in recharge. You can fire it six times in rapid succession before it has to recharge for a few seconds or you can time your shots and fire indefinitely.”

Danny was stunned at Damon’s quick but very detailed explanation and took the gun silently. He held it firmly in his right hand and weighed it cautiously. “Okay, let’s go.” Damon nodded and they quickly began to head back to B and Jet. It had been over ten minutes now so he expected that they would be long gone now.

“Something isn’t right.” Damon stated in a manner of fact. Danny had noticed it as well but hadn’t said anything, he just counted it as a blessing. They hadn’t encountered a single soldier so far which was both worrisome and a wonderful. “You’re friends aren’t here.”

“Yeah, I guessed they wouldn’t be. I told them to head off to the old shack if I wasn’t back in five minutes.” As Danny heard this the pair heard a loud, high pitched scream. “Dammit, that sounds like the girl Brittany!”

They rushed off towards the scream, weapons at the ready as they turned the corner to where the scream had originated. B was stood behind Jet as they faced three soldiers, all with their rifles at the ready. Before they had a chance to react, the soldiers fired their weapons at the two who were stood in the middle of the corridor. Jet took most of the shots as the beams went straight into his body causing him to fall to the ground, lifeless.

B however was stood directly behind Jet so none of the shots hit her but the shock of what happened had made her frozen to the spot. Before the soldiers could finish the job Danny and Damon rocketed around the corner, guns blazing. Damon quickly took down one soldier with a single shot to the chest whilst Danny fired off the handgun sending green, ball shaped lights towards the enemy as he took down the final two. It was all over in a moment as the trio of soldiers fell.

Whilst Danny ran to check to see if Brittany was okay Damon checked the bodies of the fallen soldiers to see if he could salvage anything. “Don’t worry, it’ll be okay.” Danny told B as she sobbed into his shirt with shock.

“Dammit, all they’re gear is locked biometrically. I can’t take it off, I guess the only reason I could take that other guys stuff was because I got the drop on him and he never got a chance to activate the biometric lock.” Damon sighed as he stood up and dropped the rifle. “I’ve got no more ammo, that was my last bullet and I can’t take these guys.”

“Why not leave it on all the time?” Danny asked as he finally got B to stand, he had to hold her over his shoulder however. The three began to walk to the nearby exit and Damon held open the door to make it easier to leave with B.

“It severely impacts combat ability because it makes them slower etc. It’s only used when the soldier is about to die from an expected attack.” Damon explained to him. They finally left the grounds of school, towards the forest. It wasn’t long before they reached the old shack. Something didn’t seem right. It was too quiet.

“Sophia?” Danny called out as he passed B to Damon. She wasn’t shaking anymore but she didn’t seem to be able to talk at all. The area was quiet and as Danny opened the door his worst fears were realized. Sophia wasn’t here. “Dammit! Where the hell is she!”

“What! She isn’t here!?” Damon exclaimed as he checked the shack himself. It was indeed empty and it didn’t look as though anyone had been here for a while. “Damn, she must have not been able to get away! I’ll head back, you stay here!”

“No!” Danny shouted before he ran off. “I’ll go, you have no ammo and I don’t want to risk losing you too. Take care of B, I’ll head back.”

“P-Please! Come back!” Brittany managed to stutter out in her shocked state. “You saved my life.” Danny nodded at her and left the shack, before long Damon was behind him, his hand on his shoulder. Damon quickly spun Danny around and brought him into a hug.

“Come back alive and with Sophia, or I’ll have to kick your ass in the afterlife you got that?” Damon whispered in Danny’s ear as the two embraced like the brothers they were in spirit. “Stay safe, I love you okay man?”

“Yeah, you two bro’.” Danny replied as he broke the embrace and headed back to the school, his gun firmly held in his right hand at the ready in case he ran into any soldiers along the way.


~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Holy shit That was longer than I expected. Hope you enjoyed that lovely new chapter I've introduced a new character whom you all know as Brittany She'll be moderately important which you'll discover throughout the story.

I deviated from what I was originally going to do which was to introduce a very important story character, I decided it would be better to make an entire chapter around their arrival and the story.

 

[Ezio Auditore]

Chapter Four: The Warrior of the Dark

It wasn’t long before Danny reached the edge of the forest and could see the school from above. Even from where he crouched to avoid being seen, Danny could see that reinforcements had been called. Soldiers in groups of three patrolled the grounds of the schools leaving very few spots for Danny to get inside. When he spotted the chance to get closer to the school, Danny seized it. As a patrol crossed paths with another there was a slight spot for Danny to run through.

As fast as he could he sprinted from his spot and leaped over the fence that allowed Danny to enter the grounds of the school. Even from here, the damage these soldiers had caused was evident. Windows were shattered and debris from the roof had fallen to the ground below. Danny realized he had come to the back entrance so it was impossible to get in through the windows as he knew they were nigh on impossible to break without heavy weaponry. The window on the door that led into the corridors however was easily breakable with a blunt instrument.

Spotting what he needed almost instantly, Danny grabbed a long steel pipe from the debris and smashed open the window before grabbing the handle inside and opening the door. He quickly went inside and closed the door before anyone could check it out and quickly recognized the area he had entered. He was in the Music Corridor. He checked the nearby classrooms to see if Sophia was inside them and cursed when all he saw was the dead students and teacher. They didn’t seem dead at all as the killings in this room had been quick and silent. The alarm in this area didn’t work so they wouldn’t have heard it. His hands gripped the weapons he held, the gun and the pipe, in anger.

“Disgusting…” Danny muttered as he was forced to turn away from the sight. As he turned away he heard the sounds of soldiers running towards him and he was forced to duck down by the door so he was just out of sight. They ran past him without bothering to check the room and Danny heard one of them shouting.

“Two were spotted over in the science corridor men! Get to it!” The soldier shouted. Danny swore, even if Sophia wasn’t one of them he couldn’t just let them be killed by the soldiers. He quickly left the spot he hid himself in and ran as fast as he could to the science corridor, hot on the heels of the soldiers. He turned the corner that lead into the Science Corridor and was amazed by what he saw.

A lone woman was stood surrounded by the soldiers fighting them with what appeared to be ease. Several of the soldiers were using nightsticks instead of their rifles and every time they attempted to hit the woman she managed to block, using a blade of pure white metal against them. She blocked a blow that came from above with ease and threw the mans weapon to the side before fluidly sliding the blade into the mans chest as though it were butter.

She pulled the blade from the mans chest and ducked under his still risen arm as he began to fall. As he began to fall the woman somehow managed to roll across his back with her left foot outstretched as she kicked a man in his face, breaking his neck and killing him instantly. All that remained were three soldiers, two with guns and one with another nightstick. This time the soldiers went for a team tactic and as the man went to strike her in the side the other two fired their rifles. She jumped to the side in a single graceful leap dodging the blow from the nightstick and causing the riflemen to miss.

She spun round as though she were dancing and in one simple movement, caused the man with the nightstick to fall onto his back whilst her blade was stuck into his stomach. She pulled the blade out of him and to Danny’s surprise, he realized the blade did not have a single speck of blood on it. Before the remaining two soldiers could react, the woman spun her entire body and using the momentum skilfully threw what appeared to be two small knives into their necks.

They fell in moments and the woman put her blade away slowly, knowing that the battle had been won easily. Danny took a step forwards and in what seemed like a second the woman had her blade to Danny’s throat. Danny looked at her carefully, taking in the appearance of the person he assumed would be his killer. She had long, snow with hair which fell to just below her waistline and her bangs, which where held together by thin metal bands, fell down the side of her face. She had soft green eyes which held a tint of yellow that seemed to be growing as though it would cover her eyes, however her eyes immediately returned to a soft green colour and she uttered a single word. “Child.” She stated, pulling her blade away from his neck and sheathing it in a long black sheathe. She stepped away from Danny and looked at him with what appeared to be little emotion in her eyes.

She was quite slim but even Danny could tell that she was well toned and powerful. She had long legs and was incredibly beautiful as though she were a goddess with a perfect body. Being the teen he was, Danny’s eye were of course drawn to her breasts which were scarcely covered. She wore a dark, leather, leotard like outfit. The front of it lay open but it was lined with white along the hem of it to hide her breasts, underneath of which were two belt buckles to keep the outfit from falling off her and to keep it together.

She also wore a simple skirt which had a sort of half-cloak attached to the back which went down to just above her ankles and a belt which crisscrossed around her waist to keep the skirt from falling. She wore a set of gloves which came up to her elbows and on top of them were gold coloured arm guards which also had a sort of claw attachment on the end that was attacked to the top of her hands. On her left glove, barely viewable under the arm guards, were black crystals which seemed to glow ever so slightly.

The final thing Danny noticed about her was the dark red scarf that was wrapped around her neck, the ends of which trailed down her back. Before he could ask her anything at all she turned from him and began to walk away. “W-Wait!” Danny shouted, the woman turned cautiously and stared at him emotionlessly.

“What do you want?” She asked in a voice that was pure, feminine but only very slightly deep. Danny hesitated slightly at her tone which seemed completely uncaring.

“My sister! Have you seen a girl called Sophia?” Danny finally managed to ask, he prayed to God that she knew where Sophia was.

“Sister…?” The woman said confused at the boy’s near tearful state. “Does she have blonde hair?” Danny nodded, his hopes rising. “Does she have large breasts?” Danny’s eyes twitched at this woman’s seemingly not-caring questions but he nodded anyway seeing as his sister was slightly… large in that area. “She is in the room adjoining the next corridor. Goodbye.” Danny sighed in relief as the woman began to walk away from him yet again.

“Thank you!” He shouted at her, she didn’t even nod at him or turn around, she just carried on walking away from him towards the staircase leading down. Danny turned to go to the corridor she indicated but then a voice boomed out.

“So! We meet again Solstice, !” A loud, deep voice boomed throughout the corridor. Danny spun round to see who was speaking and swore quietly. He was dressed in the exact same dress as the other soldiers except he didn’t wear a helmet or have a rifle. He has short, cropped blonde hair and dark blue eyes. Down the right side of his face was a long jagged scar.

The woman, who was evidently named Solstice, didn’t move at all. She stood as still as a statue as she began to speak. “ I should have known the Haruano Clan would have something to do with this tragedy.” As she said this the man chuckled evilly. “Why? Why would you do this?”

“ Who knows?” The man replied, spreading his arms out and shaking his head. “I was just hired to lead these guys to destroy this town and everyone in it.” The man smirked at Solstice. “Let’s end this.” He put his hands down to where two handguns were holsters and stared at Solstice.

“Child. Collect your sister and leave.” Solstice told Danny, barely turning her head. Her hand was on the hilt of her blade, prepared for battle. Even from the angle Danny stood at, he could clearly see that her eyes had turned pure yellow. Danny nodded at her order and threw open the door leading into the corridor. He ran in, letting the door close behind him as he heard the sounds of a fight beginning.

He ripped open the door to the nearest classroom and almost cried in relief. “Sophia!” He shouted happily as his sister stood up from behind the nearby desk with tears in her eyes and a happy smile on her face.

“Danny! Oh god I thought I’d never see you again! I got separated from Damon and there was no way for me to escape! Oh god is he okay! Is he safe!” Sophia choked out these last words and Danny nodded.

“He’s fine, he found me and we both escaped with one other.” Danny told her, holding her by her shoulders. “Now, we need to leave right now. We’re still in danger okay?” She nodded at him and the pair left the room as quickly as possible. Danny knew there was no way to get back outside through this corridor so he would be forced to go back to the previous one where the fight was occurring and escape through the door there that lead outside.


The battle between Solstice and the man was raging. In the short time that it took Danny to get Sophia and come back, the two had switched places and were fighting each other fiercely. The man seemed to be able to block her sword blows with this barrels of his gun, whilst he used the other to shoot at her but her amazing agility allowed her to dodge with ease.

Danny and Sophia reached the back door which lead outside the school but Danny quickly turned to look at the fight once more. Appearing at the back from the staircase were soldiers, five of them, causing Danny to swear. The woman was surely too preoccupied with fighting the man so if the soldiers shot at her she’d surely be defeated. The soldiers had their rifles ready and Danny swore once again. “Sophia! Get to the shack! I’ll catch up with you!” He ordered his sister. She looked confused at first but knew that her brother would definitely catch up.

Danny turned back to the scene as her sister left and gripped the pole and gun he had in his hands once again. He charged at the soldiers, thankful the battle had moved slightly out of the way so he could get past and just before the soldiers pulled the trigger, he swung the pipe at the underside of it causing it fly up into the air out of the soldiers hands. Thankful the distraction stopped the other soldiers from firing he twisted the pipe and using all his strength, swung it at the side of the soldiers helmet. The blow connected and the entire helmet shattered as his neck twisted oddly and he fell to the ground.

The soldiers turned to attack Danny but he was too fast, he pulled the pipe up into the underside of the next soldiers helmet and sent him crashing into the one behind him. The remaining two had pulled their nightsticks out and charged at Danny. Danny blocked the first overhead blow and went to shoot the man with the gun in his left hand. The soldier dodged but the soldier next to him wasn’t as lucky as he was struck in the side by the shot of energy.

By now however the man who had crashed into the wall with the fallen soldier had risen and drawn his nightstick. From behind he went to strike Danny as the other soldier went to strike him from the front. The one in front got to him first as he blocked a blow to the side, knowing that the soldier was behind him and about to strike, Danny threw his left leg backwards striking the man in his abdomen which instantly knocked him out. Bringing his foot back down to the ground, Danny spun on his heels and using the momentum struck the last soldier on the side of his helmet with the pole, knocking him to the ground and making him stay there.

“Heh! That’ll be all for now.” The man shouted as he back flipped and landed barely a few metres from Danny. The man glared at him before running away from the building from a side exit. Solstice came over to Danny and looked at him carefully with a shocked look in her eyes. She smiled very slightly and tapped what appeared to be a computerised wristband.

“You fought well…” She stated, the smile leaving her face. “Thank you, if you hadn’t defeated them it is likely I would have lost.” She finished tapping the wristband and something appeared in the air in front of her. It was an identical wristband which she offered to Danny.

“What is this?” Danny asked, looking at the wristband. It was no bigger than a three inch wide bracelet and had a sort of computer screen built into the top of it.

“This is a WristComp. It has I.S and U.S.I installed in it.” She said, acting as though Danny knew what any of these were. She obviously knew he was thinking that and explained it in more detail. “I.S stands for Item Storage. Almost all types of items can be stored within it and U.S.I stands for User Status Information, this will show you how much damage you have taken. I want you to wear it and go to the Fantasia Clan Headquarters in Narula. In the Item Storage already is my seal. Once you go to the headquarters so the leader that seal.”

“Eh? Why?” Danny asked, the woman did not bother to answer the question as she just continued to walk off out of the building. “Just what the hell is goin’ on?” Danny did as the woman said however and clipped the WristComp onto his left wrist. The computer instantly came to life and showed a picture of a green map next to a bunch of sentences. He quickly read the sentences and was completely amazed.

Status:
Health: 96%
Fatigue: 89%
Adrenaline Rush: Not Active
Weapon Details:
Left Hand: Mark I Standard Plasma Handgun
Right Hand: Steel Pole

“How the hell does it know all this?” Danny asked himself as he tucked his pole into his trouser loop and tucked the gun in his waist belt. As his hands let them go the weapons turned a faint blue colour and disappeared. “What the hell!?” Danny shouted as they disappeared. He heard a slight beeping sound coming from the WristComp and looked at it.

Weapons Stored - To reequip weapons please ready your left or right hand in a battle position.

Danny’s eye widened. This is high tech stuff, Danny thought to himself, maybe I should try this reequipping. He threw out his right hand to the side and felt the weapon materialize instantly. The long pole of steel was exactly the same as to how it was before he stored it. Wow, this is really high tech… Danny thought to himself again. He tucked the pole away again and almost immediately it disappeared and the WristComp beeped.

“I need to get out of here and get back to the others.” Danny finally stated to himself. He opened the door Sophia left by and headed back to the old shack.

~~~~~

“You failed.” The man shouted as the soldier in front of his knelt down. It was the blonde haired man that had fought with Solstice He was terrified and was visibly shaking with fear.

“Please my lord, forgive me!” The man begged, not to the man above him however but to the man sat in the chair behind him.

“It doesn’t matter. Everything is going to plan.” The voice spoke, he was hidden in the shadows so it was impossible to see him but his voice was light, but only a very slightly hint of deepness.

“Yet he failed the task assigned to him, and for that he must be punished.” The other man spoke once again in his deep, monotone voice. He was dressed in a single black cloak which covered his entire body and the hood which covered the top half of his face.

“Then I accept any punishment but I ask that you do not do anything that shall impact on my fighting skill. I wish to kill the one who gave me this scar whether I shall die in the process or not.” The soldier said, fear no longer in his voice.

“And who is it that gave you that scar?” The man in the chair asked.

“Solstice, of the Fantasia Clan.”

~~~~~

“Danny!” Sophia shouted happily as her brother appeared at the door of the shack. In an instant she was in his arms and they embraced. Brittany stood as the pair finished their embrace and tilted her head.

“I thought ya wasn’t gonna come back.” The blonde winked as she also hugged her saviour, Damon was sat against the wall and smirked as the pair finished their embrace. He stood as Sophia sat down next to him and walked over to Danny.

“Tch, you look tired.” He crossed his arms and glared at him for a moment before breaking into a grin. “But at least we’re all alive.” He hugged his best friend and felt Damon’s hand crawl down his back.

“That is my ass Damon.” Danny stated as he broke off the hug and smirked at his friend. Damon chuckled before sitting down with Sophia and B. Danny also sat down and the time for a serious conversation came.

“They didn’t only target our school.” Danny stated as the shocked looks came to the faces of his friends. “By the sounds of it they completely destroyed our town as well.” At this B and Damon stood up and in perfect synchrony shouted.

“My parents!” Damon started speaking first. “My parents should have come back this morning! What if they…” Danny nodded, it was very likely they were already gone. “Damn…” Damon swore as tears began to well up in his eyes. Sophia hugged him closely.

“I have to go!” B shouted, running for the door. However Danny was a step ahead of her and had already piled her against the wall.

“Brittany!” He shouted at her. “If you go now you will be killed!”

“I don’t care! I have to find my parents!” She shouted back at him, tears in her eyes.

“Jet died to protect you from those soldiers! Would you just go and get yourself killed now and make his sacrifice worthless!” These words obviously hit her hard but she held back her tears and Danny deemed it safe to let her down .

“So, what do we do now?” Damon asked Danny, who had obviously been chosen as the unofficial leader of the group.

“I want to go to Narula. There was this woman in the school, she was fighting the soldiers. It seems like she has a connection with the one who lead them there so I want to find out more.”

“Narula isn’t that far.” B told them, she had sorted herself out now and was calm. “If we head to the town over there’s a train station we can use to go right in there.”

“Where would we even go in Narula?” Sophia asked Danny.

Danny glanced at the WristComp which Damon noticed. His eyes widened and he immediately knew what it was. “Holy shit, that’s a WristComp! Only the most prestigious of clans get those! How’d you get it?”

“That woman, she gave it to me. She told me to go the Fantasia Clan Headquarters and show the leader an item that’s already stored inside it.” Danny tapped the screen which made a menu come up. It only had I.S and U.S.I on it so Danny tapped the former. On this screen was every single item Danny had in his possession, including clothes, the weapons he had and one other item which was simply labelled as “Golden Pass.” He tried to tap it but every time he did it asked for a password.

“We had better go there then huh?” Damon stated. He stood up and smiled at the group. “Let’s head back to Danny’s so we can gather any supplies we’ll need and head over to Narula!” The speech had obviously had it’s effect and the two girls were suddenly happy.

Danny smirked at them and nodded. “Right, let’s go.”

 

[Ezio Auditore]

Chapter Five: The Road to Narula

“So this is it huh?” Danny asked Damon as the pair arrived back at the old house. It had been completely razed to the ground and all that was left was rubble and smouldering wood. Danny treaded cautiously onto the remains off his house and shook his head slightly. He was glad he had ordered his sister and B to stay behind, hiding in the woods along the road leading to the village of Jastern.

“I guess so.” Damon replied, his lips twisted in a sort of saddened grimace. He was obviously struggling to keep himself composed as Danny was also. “Let’s just find what we need and go alright?” Danny nodded and headed to the far corner where the cabinet under the stairs should have been. Damon kept watch as he leant against a nearby post that somehow managed to stay standing as Danny rummaged through the debris.

“Damn…” Danny muttered as he found what he was looking for. His blade had somehow snapped during the razing of his house and was completely worthless now as a weapon. Damon’s rifle however had been in a fireproof case so he lifted it with ease and passed it into his friends hands. As Danny went to stand up once again, something silver caught his eye. He bent down to pick whatever it was up and cocked an eyebrow as he saw it was a case made of silver.

It had obviously been under the cabinet as Danny had never seen it before and he quickly recognized the crest on the case as he brushed the dirt and ash from it. “Dad’s…” Danny uttered to himself, Damon was checking his rifle and the ammo stored in the same case as Danny looked over this. The case was long, roughly a meter in length and roughly twenty centimetres in width. The crest was one of a Griffin, featuring the body of a lion and the head and wings of an Eagle. He clicked it upon by the locks on the side of the case and smiled as he opened it.

Inside was a long blade of almost a meter in length and was several inches wide. On the sheathe which lay beside it was the same crest as the one of the box. Danny picked up the blade and examined it before picking up the sheathe and sliding the blade into it as the automated computer in his WristComp began to cause the blade to disappear into it’s inventory. “Weapon Equipped.” The machine chimed as Danny stood up and smiled at Damon.

“Let’s go.” Danny and Damon slapped their hands together and embraced each other in a brotherly fashion. They broke apart and began to leave the ruins. Danny turned his head back at the ruins slightly and sighed.

“We’ll come back on day.” Damon spoke to Danny, a smile on his face. “Once we know just what the hell is going on and once we’ve helped in some way. We will come back.”

Danny nodded at his friend and replied earnestly “Yeah, we will. That’s our promise. We will come back home. All of us.” He said this last part as Sophia and B came into view. “Once we get into the town, we’ll get some new clothes and then get on the first train to Jastern.”

The three nodded at him and Danny sighed deeply. He knew that the three trusted in him deeply and treated him like their leader. “Alrighty then Bro’. Let’s move on out!” Sophia said with an empty cheer, which despite being obvious was ignored by the other two who cheered just as emptily. Danny nodded and the group headed on their way.

~~~~~

“Oooh! Juli’s gonna kill me!” A brown haired woman whined as she missed the train by a few mere moments. She was roughly five foot four with a slim figure and medium sized breasts. She had her hair tied back in a simple ponytail which she now released to allow her hair to fall down her back. “It’s so damned hot! And I haven’t had a decent drink since last weekend.” The woman continued to whine as she walked to the nearby bench and somehow managed to stumble, only to be caught moments before she hit the ground by a tall male.

“Oh god! I am so sorry!” The woman blushed as the man set her on her feet with a smile on his face. The woman brushed down her clothes which had somehow managed to get dirt on them and turned away from the man with embarrassment. “I’m so sorry!” She said before rushing off to the other side of the station.

“What the heck was that all about?” Danny asked as the woman he had caught rushed off embarrassed. Danny scratched the back of his head as Sophia and B began to giggle behind him. “Tch, what are you laughing at?” Damon started to chuckle now and Danny had begun to feel paranoid.

“Danny, you’ve got lipstick on your neck and your new jacket.” Sophia told him in-between her giggles. Danny cocked an eyebrow as he looked into a nearby window to try and get a reflection. Even with the windows transparency, Danny could clearly see the bright red lipstick on his neck and the collar of his new jacket.

“Aww man, this had better come out.” He cursed as he checked out his appearance in the window. He wore a simple, blue jacket with short arms on top of a plain black shirt. His WristComp was clearly visible and easy to use and he wore plain baggy cargo pants. He rubbed the lipstick from his neck and struggled to get rid of the one on his jacket. “How the hell did she even manage to get it on there anyways?”

“Aww, did Danny not enjoy the woman kissing his neck?” Brittany teased clapping him on the shoulder as she walked past and sat down on a nearby bench. B wore a jacket similar to Danny’s except hers was plain green and had long arms and a hood. She wore blue jeans and the same tatty trainers from the school. Sophia went and sat next to her. Sophia had chosen an outfit completely different to the others and wore a white jacket with length sleeves on top of a simple blue dress which went down to her ankles. She wore plain blue heels and had her hair tied up in a ponytail.

Danny sighed at his sisters choice of clothing. She always had to be different. Damon smirked at Danny, thinking the same thing most likely. Damon wore a long blue coat which was zipped all the way up. He wore black pants and similar black shoes. Slung across his shoulder was a case which kept his rifle hidden away.

“We missed the train by the way.” Sophia commented as she gazed at the time table across from her. The other three glared at her and she cowered away slightly. “Okay, okay. So I spent a little longer than necessary checking out the clothes that we didn’t have enough money to buy. I’m sorry.”

Danny and Damon shook their heads as they sat down also. “So, how long till the next one?” Damon asked her. She quickly checked the board again and sighed.

“Twenty minutes.” She told them, causing the others to groan once again. “Sorry…”

~~~~~

“Hey look, that kid dere got himself a WristComp.” A tall, rough looking male spoke. Several others were gathered around with him in the corner smoking something. “Probably a clanny and he don’t look too strong either.”

“Ch’yeah. Those clanny guys are usually real freakin’ rich an’ all. But there’s too much filth in this station so we ain’t got no chance a getting‘ close..” Another male spoke, this one shorter but more thicker than the other.

“How ‘bout we got on the next train wit’ ‘em and bash ‘em while we on there?” The other one spoke again. The other men with them were too out of it to be any help so they’d have to go it alone of course. “There ain’t never no guards orn the train eh?”

“Ch’yeah, yer right. ‘Kay, we’ll get on dat dere next train and bash ‘em when we gone.” The taller man s******ed and went back to smoking whatever is was they were smoking.

~~~~~

After spending ages getting to know B the train finally arrived and the four stood up to get on it. As they boarded the train they didn’t notice the two strange looking men glaring at them as they too got onto a carriage slightly further down. Near the top of the train, the woman from before did see the two men and pondered on what was happening.

The four friends found a set of four seats facing each other and sat down. The two girls by the window and the two guys on the end. It wasn’t long before the train began to leave the station and the scenery started rushing by the window. Danny closed his eyes and it wasn’t long before the sweet embrace of sleep covered him.

“Hey! Hey you!” Someone called, Danny couldn’t tell if he was waking up or if it was part of a dream he was having. “Hey kid! Wake up!” Danny felt something shove his shoulder and his eyes began to open.

“Danny, wake up, someone wants to talk to you.” He heard Damon speak which woke him up instantly. Danny yawned as sleep left his mind and body.

“What is it Day? I was having a nice dream…” Danny asked as he leant forward slightly and rubbed his head. He noticed two men behind him and turned slightly to get a better look. One of them was tall and wiry with a hooked nose and a horrible unshaven face. The other was shorter than the other man but made up for it in width. He had a fat face and a shaved head. He was chewing something that looked like a cigarette in his mouth.

“Hey kid!” The taller one spoke again, he had a horrible nasal voice which seemed to grind on Danny’s nerves. “Give us yer money or we’ll stick you one.” He s******ed slightly. The other man didn’t seem to want to speak as he had his arms crossed a harsh look on his face.

“Stick me one? Just what the hell with?” Danny mumbled as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes slightly. The man s******ed again and pulled a knife from his pocket.

“With this!” He s******ed loudly and Danny opened his eyes to look at his friends. Damon had his arms crossed as well and his legs stuck out whilst B and Sophia absentminded watched the scenery and the event happening next to them out of the corner of their eyes.

“Piss off bozo.” Danny told the man, closing his eyes. The man growled angrily and Danny heard a door slam open somewhere.

“And just what the heck is goin’ on here?” A young female voice rang out in the carriage. Danny opened an eye and looked at the newcomer. Danny quickly recognized her as the woman from earlier. This time however she wore a brown top with the shoulder loose on one side and a leather shorts. She also wore plain brown boots with came halfway up the bottom half of her legs. Her dark brown hair was tied back in a ponytail and she wore two brown leather gloves and on her left arm was a WristComp identical to Danny’s own.

“Piss off oldtimer.” The gangly one s******ed, despite the woman looking quite young and the man old and ugly.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!?” The woman screeched loudly. “I ought to kick your arse!” She took a step forward and somehow managed to trip on one of the chairs, tumbling forward and rolling until she was plainly on her bum. “Ow shite.” The woman swore. Within moments Danny was in front of her crouching slightly with his hand outstretched.

“Are you okay?” Danny asked her. The woman continued to mutter owwie under her breath before finally looking up at him.

Her eyes widened and she backed away quickly “Y-You!?” She shouted loudly, she managed to drag herself from the ground and quickly turned, embarrassment filling her face. “Oh god..” She muttered under her breath.

“Oh screw this!” The gangly one shouted before charging with his knife. Before Danny or Damon could react the woman threw out her hand as she spun around and a coil of rope appeared in it. She seemed to throw the rope forwards, catching one of the ends and pulling it, causing a loud crack to be heard as the other end connected with the mans abdomen.

It was then that Danny realized the woman didn’t have a rope but a long black whip. The man shouted in pain and fell back slightly, dropping the knife. The woman brought the whip back and with her left hand grabbed the whip two feet along it and made a snapping sound with it. The look in her eyes had changed completely from the accident-prone soft eyes to the harsh eyes she had now.

“Get her!” The tall one shouted and the fat man charged. The woman cracked her whip once more and threw out the whip. This time however it didn’t strike the man but instead wrapped itself around the man’s ankle. The woman lifted up the handle and with some great strength manage to pull the leg, forcing the fat man to fall to the ground.

The tall man went to charge but this time Danny decided to step in. Damon had obviously thought the same thing and in an instant the two had drawn their weapons. Danny’s blade was at the tall man’s throat whilst Damon had his rifle pointed at the fat man on the ground. “Didn’t I tell you to piss off bozo?”

With a yelp the tall one jumped back over his fallen comrade who had begun to crawl away furiously. Danny made his weapon disappear again whilst Damon put away his rifle in it’s case. The woman made her weapon disappear in the same fashion Danny had and had finally noticed that he too wore a WristComp.

“Ooh what clan are you in?” The woman asked, not bothering to introduce herself. She had sat down in the seats next to their own and Danny finally sat down.

“Heh, I’m not in a clan.” Danny told her, scratching the back of his head. “I’ve been invited to one though apparently.” The woman had taken some food out of a bag and had just bitten into a chunk of bread. Despite this, she spoke with her mouth full.

“Oh really?” She somehow managed to mumble out from behind her food. “What clan?” Danny checked his WristComp quickly because he had forgotten and quickly found the information page.

“Uhh… The Fantasia Clan.” As Danny told her this the woman’s eyes widened considerably.

“Eh!? That’s the clan I’m in!” Danny’s eye widened and Sophia leant forward. B had fallen asleep a while ago and Damon was listening intently. “Who invited you?”

“Uhh… I think her name was… Solstice?” The woman’s eye widened even more and she quickly swallowed the food in her mouth.

“Holy shit. She’s never invited someone before!” Kelly tapped her WristComp quickly and her mouth dropped open. “You’re the first… And she’s… One of the top-ranking… HOLY SHIT!?” The group was stunned by the woman’s sudden shout and they were all taken aback by it. B woke up because of it and yawned loudly. “Guess I’d better introduce myself then… Name’s Kelly Bradford! Head Medic of the Fantasia Clan! Nice to meet you!”

 

[Ezio Auditore]

After a rather long hiatus, I return with the very next chapter of The Vengeance of the Dark. Enjoy!

Chapter Six: The Big City.

Footsteps could be heard against the cold, hard floor as a tall man dressed in a long black robe walked through the corridors. The corridor was lit by simple lanterns that threw out their flames like uncontrolled beats would thrash away from their chains, in the hope that they might set themselves free. The man turned the corner, into what seemed to be another long, dark corridor with lanterns along the walls. However, he continued onwards, appearing to know exactly where he was going.

The bottoms of his long robes seemed to flail around, as though he was walking against the wind yet he continued onwards as though nothing was happening, his face hidden by the hood he wore over his head until he eventually came to a sudden halt. “My Lord. How are you today, if I may ask?” The man’s voice was deep yet light and seemed to carry with it an air of authority. From the shadows behind him, a smaller, more slender man stepped out, allowing the light from the lanterns to show him.

His clothing was similar to the tall one yet he wore no gloves to hide his skin. His hands were the colour of chalk, as though the very blood in his veins had stopped flowing. He raised his head slightly, showing the bottom of his face ever so slightly which was just as white as his hand yet his lips were ruby red. He chuckled once, a sound which often came from him. “Why Zen, how did you know I was here?” His voice was light and sounded innocent, as though it came from a young boy instead of a man.

Zen chuckled, something which sounded very deep yet hollow, as though he did not care to answer the question. However he did so as he knew what would happen otherwise. “My Lord, I have never met someone who can make light itself cower away.” He said, indicating the flames, all of which were blowing away from the man. The smaller one chuckled, one that sounded as though he actually found this funny.

“That would be true, I guess. Anyway, on to business as they say.” He smiled a child-like smile and leaned against the nearby wall, extinguishing the flame nearest to him completely. “Are the preparations complete?” The tall man crossed his arms, as though defending himself, something which the smaller one noticed.

“The three operatives are in place, my lord…” The man quietened down, letting his arms fall to his sides and the small one stood from his leaning position against the wall.

“However?” The small man asked, walking towards Zen. The small one obviously held a terrifying power over Zen as he backed away slowly, instantly finding himself cornered however with the small one still advancing.

“The one you picked to attack first… Are you sure he’s trustworthy?” Zen asked, a slight trembling in his voice. To question the master was something often punished with death. Within a second Zen was thrown to the wall by the small one. Something Zen did not expect however, was for the small one to begin laughing. “M-My lord?”

“Of course I don’t trust him.” He chuckled as he raised his hand to his face. “Just because he wields the weapons of darkness does not mean he bathes himself within it.” Zen finally stood from ground he fell onto after being slammed into the wall. “In fact, I expect him to join the boy. If he does, it shall all go according to plan…”

~~~~~

Nothing but a loud screech could be heard as the train braked at full power as it pulled into the Narula Train Station. The smoke from the funnel of the train continued to rise as it waited for the passengers that were to disembark left. The outskirts of the city were old but even from the station you could see the tall, technologically advanced buildings that resided right in the dead centre. The thing that stood out the most however, was the Grand Palace.

It wasn’t the tallest building in the city, only being half the size of the building that towered over the city, but the grand colours that decorated the palace made it shine beyond belief. Two tall towers stood guard on each side of the palace gate built into the tall wall that surrounded the palace. Danny smiled as he breathed in the cold air that seemed to be filled with excitement. Danny felt a tap on his shoulder and turned as the woman called Kelly threw a suitcase into his arms. “Help me with this stuff will you? I honestly can’t be arsed calling up someone to give me a hand so I may as well get you to do it and I can show you the way to the Clan Headquarters.”

“Oh come on! Why are you making me carry all this crap and not those guys!” Danny pointed out Damon and the girls, s******ing behind Kelly’s back as she began to pile on more bags and suitcases. “How much crap do you have anyway!?”

“Lots and lots! A girl can never have too many shoes. And I’m making you do it because you were invited to the clan!” She winked evilly at Danny as she picked up a very small bag and threw it over her shoulder. “Meaning if you join, I’m your superior!” Danny swore loudly but the woman ignored him as she walked happily away, signalling them all to follow. Damon chuckled deeply as he walked next to Danny, jostling him slightly in an annoying way.

They entered the train station and Danny smiled once again as he saw all the evident differences from this big town station to the tiny one he had boarded the train from. “So, what do ya think huh? Reckon you’ll join?” Damon asked him, taking a couple of the bags to make it easier for Danny to walk. Danny sighed to himself as Kelly carried on walking through the train station.

“Maybe, I’m not completely sure but it seems that they might know something about the guys who attacked the village and our school.” Danny stopped as he checked to make sure Sophia and Brittany were still near them, they were up ahead with Kelly talking about something as they all laughed loudly. Kelly’s laugh was slightly annoying to the ears but he didn’t care less. “What about you? Reckon you might join?”

Damon seemed to think about this for a few moments, walking in silence as they continued to follow the girls. He smirked at Danny and winked jokingly “Hell yeah I would! Don’t cha think it’d be amazing? Us two working together and everything? Be like hunting except we’d get paid!” Danny laughed at this, even though it hadn’t been too long ago since they were hunting together, the memory already seemed so long ago considering everything that had happened.

“I’d like that. C’mon, let’s catch up.” Danny said to Damon, he nodded and they sped up, easily catching up on the girls as they heard the ending of what they were talking about.

“… And once they both fell over onto each other and it SO looked like they were doing “stuff”” The girls all began to laugh loudly as Sophia finished her story. Kelly turned and smirked at Danny, Sophia turned and began to laugh loudly as she saw her brother’s facial expression. “Hey there bro’ just telling Kelly about alllll the funny stories I have to tell about you and Damon.” She winked at him.

“I’m gonna have sooo much fun telling the rest of the new guys you’ll be training with these stories.” Kelly stated bluntly, giggling like a little child. She noticed Danny’s confused look and realised he must not know everything about joining the clan yet. “Oh that’s right! When you first join, you go through tests to even see if you’re worth training to become a clan member, after that you spend three months in vigorous training, training every aspect of what you specialize in, and then… The Exam.” She shuddered. “I hated that bastard thing. It changes every year but you can be certain that it’ll be one of the hardest things you’ll ever experience. Anyway, I can’t be arsed walking the rest of the way so let’s get a cab.” Danny finally realised they were outside as Kelly hailed a large taxi from the sidewalk. The car came to a screaming halt and a small little man came out to open the trunk.

“How many are you?” He asked in a strange accent, before the group had a chance to even answer he quickly counted them. “There only room for four, there five.” Kelly sighed as she took the suitcases from Danny and shoved them into the trunk.

“Hey, peon!” Kelly shouted, Danny turned to her and quickly reached out as Kelly threw something at him. He easily caught it and noticed it was a memory stick. “We’re gonna go on ahead! Have fun trying to get to the HQ!” Britt burst out laughing as she jumped into the taxi, quickly followed by a smirking Damon. “Just shove the chip into the side of your WristComp and it’ll upload the location of the HQ.” She smirked at him as she laughed evilly and got into the front seat of the taxi next to the driver.

Sophia smiled at him. “Want me to stay? I’ll walk with you?” Sophia asked him, smiling sweetly at him.

“Nah, don’t worry.” He brushed his hand through his hair and he smirked at her. “If I’m not there in a couple of hours, fear the worst.” He winked at her jokingly but she glared at him as she turned away and climbed into the back of the taxi. Danny waved as the cab pulled out, and he was alone in the city.

~~~~~

“So that’s him huh?” A male voice whispered as the figure pulled down his goggles and looked at Danny from a distance. A black cloaked man stood behind him, both looking down at Danny from the roof of a nearby building.

“Yes, that is your target. Defeat him, and your precious item shall be released.” The voice was deep, and the body it belonged to was massive, the cloak clinging to every muscle in his body.

“My best friend is not just a stupid item.” The person snapped at the larger bodied person, he regretted this immediately, he had to stay on this organisation’s good side so he changed the subject. “This guy doesn’t look evil, how can someone my age be the head of a criminal syndicate?”

“Do not let appearances fool you. You of all people should know that, Gurito.” The voice chuckled deeply as he began to slowly fade into nothingness. The teen sighed as he stood up and replaced his goggles over his emerald eyes. He ran his hand through his spiky, medium-length red hair and without a second floor, jumped from the roof of the building to the lower one nearby.

“Let’s do this.” He muttered as he followed the other teen from above.

~~~~~

Danny groaned as he turned another corner only to see another long road, heading deeper into the city. “Christ man, just how big is this city!” Danny moaned as he checked his WristComp Map, he was still a good mile from this headquarters and looking at the route he would be forced to take a lot of back alleys.

Danny reached the end of the road and sighed as he realised he had to start going into the alleyways now. As soon as he stepped into the alleyway, Danny knew something was up. He carried on forwards and turned another corner, groaning that he was now in a sort of maze-like alleyway system. Ahead of him was another corner. He was halfway through the alleyway when a large blue energy wall blocked off the corner ahead of him. “What the…?” Danny turned quickly, fearing the worst. His fears were realised when he saw another wall of blue energy blocking off the entrance from where he came.

“So easy to trap.” A voice rang out throughout the alleyway. Danny looked about, trying to locate the owner of the voice to no avail. A sudden change in the wind told Danny all he needed to know, as though on instinct, he spun his body, summoning his blade. A dagger seemed to appear from nowhere but Danny was fast enough, using the edge of his blade he blocked the dagger, sending it upwards. A second one appeared again but once again, Danny managed to block it, sending it away. The daggers seem to return to their owner so Danny kept his eyes on them carefully as they flew back into the hands of the person who stood on the edge of the tall building to Danny’s right. “Hmph, so you’re good enough to block a weak attack.”

Without a second thought, the figure stepped over the edge of the building. Danny, being startled by this sudden action, lurched forwards, fearing for the life of the person who had just attacked him. However there was no need for worry. As though gravity did not affect him, the man landed nimbly. He stood up straight, twirling his daggers which were of a blackened colour into a more comfortable position for battle.

He wore dark goggles, completely hiding his eyes and his medium-length, spiky ,blood- red hair barely covered the top half of his goggle covered eyes. Twirling the blade in his right hand, he quickly sheathed it. As he freed his hand he took off his goggles, letting them fall around his neck showing Danny his emerald green eyes.. He wore a dark blue jacket and simple dark green cargo pants. Danny quickly saw that the man wasn’t even technically a man, he was just another teenager like himself. “Who the hell are you and what do you want?” Danny demanded, pissed off that he was suddenly being attacked.

“My name doesn’t matter.” The emerald-eyed boy replied. He drew his second dagger once more and half-crouched into a fighting stance. “All that matters is that I kill you!” Without waiting for a reply, the boy charged forwards with startling speed. He spun his body as he neared Danny, his blades ready for a quick kill, but Danny was ready. He jumped backwards, barely dodging the blow.

“What I ever do to you!” Danny shouted, readying his blade in a defensive position. The assailant faced him, both daggers ready to continue fighting.

“You’re a criminal! By killing you, I’d be saving someone special to me!” He shouted, Danny was evidently confused at this but he had no time to respond as the enemy charged once more. The redhead brought down a dagger from above sluggishly, Danny smirked as he easily blocked the blow but the smirk was quickly wiped from his face as he used the force from his dagger hitting Danny’s blade to lift himself into the air. He flew over Danny’s head, attacking with his second blade. If it wasn’t for Danny’s quick reflexes he’d have a blade in the back of his head. However he just managed to twist away, feeling the dagger slice into the spot just above his left cheek.

Danny swore as he jumped backwards a few times, putting space in-between the pair. He felt the blood from his cut drip slowly down his face as he panted a few times to regain his breath. “I am not a damned criminal, ya damned bastard.”

“Don’t lie!” Once again he charged forwards, this time with much more aggression in his movements. However this made it easier for Danny to predict his movements, blocking the dagger coming for his side, Danny swiftly kicked the assailant plainly into his stomach. The blow sent the teen backwards, sliding backwards along the alley floor but still managing to stand.

Danny stood there, eyeing his enemy angrily. “It’s obvious that you’re a prick who won’t listen! So I guess I’ll just have to beat some sense into you!” Danny stood, switching into a more aggressive pose. “Let’s do this!” Danny charged forwards, his blade angled so that he wouldn’t hurt him too much. The boy quickly defended, jumping upwards into the air as he blocked the sword. Danny quickly summoned his gun and shot several times at the teen. Amazingly he blocked each of them with his daggers and immediately threw his daggers at Danny just like earlier.

Instead of blocking them however, Danny dodged to the right, easily avoiding the daggers. As though they were attached to his hands like chains, they quickly returned, ready for more battle. The battle continued like this, frequent clashes of metal on metal only very rarely scoring a proper hit on each other. After half an hour the pair were finally exhausted. The boy charged forwards, his arms tired from the fighting, Danny however took this chance. Using the remaining strength in his limbs, he smashed his blade into the first of the daggers, sending it flying into the nearby walls. He quickly reversed his blade and did it to the other but didn’t expect what happened next. The teen seemed to jump up and kick the kilt of Danny’s blade, sending it flying into the air.

Danny knew that if he didn’t act now, that magic which kept the daggers to his enemy’s hands would come into effect. His fist flew forwards just as the assailant tried to kick, both blows landed and they were instantly separated, flying away from each other and finally onto the ground in exhaustion.

“Why… Can’t… You… Just die.” The redhead managed to mutter as he breathed heavily.

“I’m… Not… Who… You… Think I am.” Danny replied, he rest his head on the cold ground and looked up at the sky as it began to rain slightly. “I’m not some… Criminal. I don’t know who you’re looking for but you got the wrong guy.”

“But you were pointed out to me. I was ordered to kill you, if I don’t then…” Danny quickly interrupted.

“Or what huh!?” Danny shouted, his anger had returned “Did you never stop to even find out if I’m a criminal? What would my sister do if I were to be killed now huh!? She’d be alone!” He was met with silence. They stayed that way for a few minutes, letting the rain wash their bloodied wounds as they remained stationary on the ground. “You said “If I don’t”, what did you mean?”

“… My best friend. The people who forced me to try to and kill you. They have her captive.” The teen finally sat up and looked over at Danny. “I’m sorry, for attacking you.”

“It’s okay. I’ve gotten worse from my sis.” Danny finally sat up and pushed himself upwards to stand up. “What’s your name?”

“Sonny Gurito. I guess I failed her now…” Danny frowned at Sonny, he walked over to him causing Sonny to look up slightly. Danny extended his hand to pick Sonny up.

“My name’s Redford, Danny Redford.” Sonny took the hand and Danny picked him up with ease. “You’re gonna come with me and I’m going to help you find your friend.” Danny smirked at his new comrade. “Now then, I gotta go to Fantasia Clan Headquarters, can you show me the way?”

Sonny smirked at him. “You’d really help me?” Danny nodded and the pair shook hands. “Then let’s get goin, we’re not far.”