[[Day 6 in Palaugrim :: Luciano ]]<br/><br/><span style="color: turquoise">“Ladies, Gentlemen.  Citizens of Palaugrim.”</span>Victorie spread her arms out, silk sleeves falling gracefully with her movements.<span style="color: turquoise"> “A dark time is upon us.” </span>Blond eyelashes swept down, casting the entire face in shadow.  Pale peach lips formed the next words reluctantly.<span style="color: turquoise"> “Gless has attacked us.” </span>There was a roar of surprise, of fear, and of<span style="font-style: italic">anger</span>.  Her eyes snapped back up, turquoise eyes blazing with resolve.<span style="color: turquoise"> “With no word or warning, with no mercy, with no <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="text-decoration: underline">provocation</span></span>, Gless has sent their mercenaries, their so-called <span style="font-style: italic">Pristine Knights</span>,” </span>She spat out the title scornfully,<span style="color: turquoise"> “to attack peaceful Palaugrimian villages!  None have been spared!  Entire villages have been razed!  The birds you see flying through the air,” </span>A manicured finger pointed out the high window where a flock of birds flew by,<span style="color: turquoise">“they bear messages of death.  Orders to kill, to rampage, to destroy all that we have striven to build!  Who abandoned us?!  Who withdrew to the furthest island, the safest one, so far away from the broken Barrens?!  Who refused to give us their aid?” </span>The crowd of nobles in front of her<span style="font-style: italic">screamed</span>in fury.<span style="color: turquoise"> “These parasites!  They see our prosperity and they desire it!”</span>Her hand clenched together in a fist, a representation of their enemies’ greedy hands.<span style="color: turquoise">“They see our spirits and they wish to crush it!  They see our joy and they <span style="font-style: italic">covet</span> it.  <span style="font-weight: bold">But we will not falter!</span>  We will <span style="text-decoration: underline">not</span> give in!” </span>Spittle flew from her mouth from the strength of her words.<span style="color: turquoise">“Today we go to war! Today we fight back!  Today we show those stuck up bastards the strength of Palaugrim!”</span><br/><br/>The Hall shuddered under the strength of the peoples’ voices.  She had them.  Triumph gleamed in her turquoise eyes, lighting them an unholy shade.<span style="color: turquoise">“Then as the Mayor of Luciano, leader of Sovereign Palaugrim, I authorize the National Palaugrimian troops!  We strike out at once!  Sound the bells! Today, Palaugrim liberates itself!”</span><br/><br/>The bells started tolling, deep chimes signaling the advent of war.  The men and women in front of her streamed out, men to armor and women to their treasuries.  It had begun.  Victorie spun around, calling for the guards to prepare.  In the shadows of the corridor, no one saw the sinister smile creep over her face.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~~~</div><br/><div style="margin:20px; margin-top:5px"><div class="quotetitle"><input class="button2 btnlite" onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = '';      this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Hide'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Show'; }" style="text-align:center;width:100px;margin:0px;padding:0px;" type="button" value="Show"/></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">It’s done.  Release Havoc.  Destroy Santa Olivia.</div></div></div><br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~~~</div><br/><br/>[[Day 7 in Palaugrim :: Between Bastille and Santa Olivia ]]<br/><br/>The sound of screams broke Lethe from her trance.  The rhythm of their running had lulled her into a trance-like state as her body kept moving and her mind wandered in search of respite.  Beside her, Kanna was also looking in the direction of the shouts, the corner of the brunette’s lips curved down.  Her hand automatically signaled her team to change directions and they curved towards the sound.<br/><br/>“Sinners ahead!”<br/><br/>“I smell smoke.”<br/><br/>“There’s some sort of fight going on!”<br/><br/>She indicated her team should prepare for battle, automatically casting<span style="font-style: italic">Prayer</span>upon herself.  Runes had already formed around Kanna, her companion preparing for battle as well.  They broke out of the foliage to the sight of a village being ransacked by Sinners and what looked like armored men.  The taint of Sin floated over the village as did smoke from the houses on fire.  Kanna suddenly stopped, the rest of the squad streaming around her, weapons all drawn.  The brunette’s hand lashed out to one of her runes, then another, then another.  Each rune she touched released a spell: fire, lightning, blades of wind all appeared at her touch and went flying towards an attacker.  Valiar and Leon skidded to a stop beside the mage, the former beginning his incantations as well while the latter took up a defensive position.<br/><br/>“Leon! Go bring the injured over here!”  Flashes of golden light appeared randomly within their sight, blocking attacks aimed the villagers.  The youngest Knight was immediately off to do as bid.  Seraphim clothes-lined one of the attacking men, snagging his neck with the crook of her elbow.  The sudden choking sound he made was delightful to her ears.  She slammed him into the ground and dragged him along before sending him flying towards one of his compatriots.  Both fell to the ground in a tangle of grey-armored limbs.  A flare of negative intent behind her had her spinning to see a Sinner bringing a war axe down on her head.  She threw her body into him, shoulder first, to knock him off balance.  His weapon was knocked out of his hand by a bolt of fire and it fell into her hands.  Though she had never trained with war axes, it seemed pretty intuitive.  One swing later the axe was stuck half in the Sinner’s torso.  Oops, forgot the holy magic.  A bolt of Banish sent the Sinner to the ground instead and she turned around to see an annoyed YunQiao.  Flashing a grin and wink at him, she charged her gauntlets with Banish and was off running again.<br/><br/>Adair deflected the man’s overly wide strike and struck him with the flat of his blade.  The force knocked his opponent off balance and Adair stepped in to strike the man out with the pommel.  The man fell to the ground.  He looked up to see a house about to fall on fleeing villagers.  A dash of purple made his attention immediately turn elsewhere.  The house fell in a fiery crash but he knew the villagers were safe.  Instead, he ran further into the town to engage a Sinner.<br/><br/>The little girl and her older sister clung to him, despite Cricket’s best efforts to dislodge them.  There was a fight going on!  He couldn’t be stuck here being a human handkerchief!  Dragging the two women to Valiar, he pried them off him and then ran off before they could reattach.  God, women were scary sometimes.  His sword slid through a Sin-tainted man, his feelings of disgust hidden by an impassive face.  YunQiao didn’t even bother turning around at the sound of a body falling behind him.  He simply cast a round of Smite on the Sinners Deimos and Seraphim had corralled together.  The rain of bolts suddenly increased; a glance beside him showed Cricket had finally stopped jumping around to cast as well.  The Sinners fell to the ground one by one and the non-tainted enemies were knocked out.  He felt the hairs of his neck stand up in warning and he threw himself out of the way just as a storm of holy light and fire struck the ground behind him.  YunQiao was turning to glare at Kanna, for who else had the ability to cast such high level elemental magic, only to see the ground by him suddenly sag.  The ex-Knight was falling from the sky, only her cocked back fist an indication her flight was voluntary. A chain of runes surrounded her fist and there was a sudden looming pressure.  Grabbing his companion, the black-haired Knight hauled them backwards and then he was flying as well as Cricket jumped.  The ground exploded under Kanna’s attack and she flipped off, riding the aftershocks of her attack back into the air and then to the ground.  The caved in ground revealed strands of bushy hair.<br/><br/>“PURE SINNER!” YunQiao shouted needlessly, his cry echoed by Leon’s.  Deimos and Seraphim were suddenly at their sides, eyes focused on the emerging Pure Sinner.  It appeared disgruntled and not a bit apprehensive as its eight legs found purchase on the broken earth.  Seraphim launched herself at the entity, glowing with Prayer.  Cricket was a second behind her, his sword drawn.  Both slammed into a flickering barrier.  The Pure Sinner hadn’t had enough time to put up a better one.  Drawing on his magic, YunQiao immediately started casting an elemental spell, the runic circle appearing in front of him.  Deimos was already gone.  The flash of silver and the Pure Sinner’s sudden stumble to the left signaled a successful hit from the auxiliary Knight.  It brought its arm up and nearly lost it when Cricket went flying by.  Bolts of fire and lightning were peppering the Pure Sinner’s barrier and Seraphim was on the ground pounding away at it with bright strikes of light.  None of these attacks were meant to break through, though it’d be nice if they did; instead, they were meant to capture the Pure Sinner’s barrier on these attacks and let Cricket, Leon, and Deimos slip around.  A final chant and YunQiao’s blast of fire joined the barrage.  The Pure Sinner’s scream of rage as it toppled forward signaled the sudden magic attack had drawn too much of its focus and the others must have scored hits in the back.<br/><br/>Blue eyes gleamed in cold fury as the white-haired Knight flew about.  Eight swords danced around her, deflecting and attacking with nary a gesture from their owner.  The sword in her hand glowed white as she sliced her way through the Sinners and armored men.  Her blade was unable to cleave flesh but it cleansed all the men she struck.  The sudden influx of holy light knocked them out, or so Roland had told her.  It was a blessing in disguise for while many would question the use of a blade that didn’t seem to cut, it allowed her to utilize all her sword skill without fear of maiming non-Sinners.  Lethe had no wish to kill these poor, tainted men.  It was her duty to save them if she could.  She plowed her way through the village, keyblades a halo around her.  A scream of fear caught her attention and she turned to see a desperate family standing atop a burning house.  She released a blast of Repent, turning the normally defensive spell into a shockwave that knocked aside all her opponents.  Her swords were immediately at her back as she jumped into the sky.  She landed on the roof, tiles cracking under the force.  The family turned to her with a mix of hope and fear.<span style="color: silver"> “Come.  I can carry one of you at a time.”</span>She slipped her main blade back into its case and offered out a hand.  The husband pushed the wife and the bawling baby forward.  “Go!”  The woman still looked hesitant, torn between safety and the man being left behind.  However, her options were taken from her when Lethe slipped arms around her waist and then she was flying!  A scream of surprise trailed her to the ground where she was suddenly released and then the white-haired Knight was in the air once more, headed for her husband.  Her husband landed on the ground with less fanfare than she.<br/><br/><span style="color: silver"> “Follow the road to the Southern side of the village.  My squad has set up a defensive perimeter there.”</span>A wave of holy magic flowed over the family, leaving them glowing faintly, and then the Knight was running off once more with sword in hand.<br/><br/>She skidded to the halt at a sight of two Pure Sinners.  Two at once?  It was rare for Pure Sinners to congregate.  What was special about this village?  The flare of her holy magic caught the two Pure Sinner’s attention.  Eight keyblades pointed at them and as one, released a barrage of Banishes.  Their barriers came up in time to stop most of the attack but the first few slipped by.  There was a scream of rage and one of the Pure Sinners tottered around, having suddenly lost its arms.<span style="color: silver"> “Banish!”</span>The beam of holy energy shot through the armless Pure Sinner’s head and it crumpled to the ground.  Lethe jumped back as a bolt of dark magic hit the ground she’d been standing on.  A sphere of dark magic crashed down on her and only the sudden reappearance of her keyblades enabled her to move out of the way fast enough.  The Pure Sinner was slowly turning itself around to face her when it suddenly snarled.  The sound of metal hitting a barrier screeched through the air.<br/><br/>Lethe took the moment of distraction to run around the Pure Sinner so when its head whipped back, its target was no longer in sight.  The Pure Sinner’s bulk had been blocking Adair from her sight.  The two exchanged nods of acknowledgment and then Lethe was dashing further back.  A golden “X” appeared in front of Adair’s eyes before the “X” flashed silver and crumpled into sparkles.  He felt his weariness vanish and his next attack cleaved through the barrier the Pure Sinner had constructed, striking it in the leg.  Another bolt of darkness fell down on him but his shield was up in time to block it.  He hacked off the rest of the leg for the Pure Sinner hadn’t expected such a response.<br/><br/>Streams of light appeared around him and the Pure Sinner screamed in pain.  He added his own Banish to Lethe’s Smite and the Sinner screamed more, stumbling away from their combined assault.  A sharp whistle pierced the screaming and he braced himself. The moment he felt Lethe’s weight settle on his shield, he jumped in the air and boosted her further up.  He moved back immediately and was greeted to the sight of her slicing the Pure Sinner in half like it was a stick of butter.  The two sides wavered and then fell outwards, or they would have if Lethe hadn’t immediately purified the Sin.  Instead, black sparkles trailed up into the sky, lightening to white and then being swept away.<br/><br/>Lethe turned her attention to the other Pure Sinner and a shot of Banish from her palm destroyed the entity of Sin.  She exhaled deeply to catch her breath and then turned to her Vice Captain.<span style="color: silver"> “Let’s go.”</span>He obligingly fell into step with her and then they were running once more, searching for more innocents who needed their help.<br/><br/>The two finished their run through the village and headed back to the South side where they’d left the rest of the squad.  The massive crater in the ground drew an arched brow from Lethe but she said nothing else.  The villagers were all in a huddle around Valiar’s feet and runes of defense were fading from the air.<br/><br/><span style="color: silver"> “Is everyone okay?”</span>The sounds from her squad were all affirmatives, but some of the villagers groaned in pain.  Concern immediately took over the Seraph’s face and she looked first at the injured villagers and then her squad.<span style="color: silver"> “May we do a healing rain?”</span>She inquired, both of her squad and the villagers.  Her only response was her squad slipping into positions on the perimeter of the group.<span style="color: silver"> “We will be healing you all then.  Please excuse our intrusion.”</span>Catching her squad’s gazes, Lethe began drawing the first rune for the spell.  It was an original spell Feyth had created long ago that drew upon the casters’ holy magics.<span style="color: silver"> “Healing.”</span>Her words blended with everyone else’s and then sparkles of healing magic fell like rain into the area her squad surrounded.  The spell faded after two minutes.  Lethe scanned the group in front of her, noting the lack of injuries.<span style="color: silver"> “Do you know why the Sinners attacked you..?”</span>She wondered but received no useful response.  Looking between the destroyed village and the group behind her, she clearly wavered on what to do next.  However, she was saved from having to speak.<br/><br/>“It’d be best if you guys went to Bastille.  Explain what happened and one of the Knight Squadrons will come and investigate.  Until we know why your village was attacked, you probably shouldn’t stay here.”  Kanna stared at the group in curiosity but then transferred her attention to Lethe.  “We best keep moving.”<br/><br/><br/>Lethe was looking between the villagers and Kanna uncertainly.  She wanted to get to Luciano faster but if the villagers needed her help, then she’d want to stay.  “We’ve already come through the way between Bastille and here.  We know the area’s safe.  They’ll be fine.”  Seeing the younger woman still wasn’t convinced, Kanna sighed and compromised.  “Here, I’ll send up a distress signal with fire; you send one up in holy magic.  It’ll get the attention of any Pristine Knights in the area and they’ll know what to do.”<br/><br/>Cricket had already wandered off to form the signal showing the direction the villagers would take to get to Bastille.  Valiar was packing up his bag and Deimos had wandered to the treeline.  It looked like her squad had made up their minds already.  Lethe smiled apologetically at the civilians in front of her, casted Repent on them, and then waved them goodbye.<br/><br/>Team Blonde returned to their run, this time at a slower pace as everyone dealt with exhaustion.  The fight had been fast and each was settling down from the adrenaline high of combat.  An hour later, they were back at their normal pace.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~~~</div><br/><br/>This time Lethe could hear the screaming sooner.  Screams, the roar of fire, the clash of metal on metal, and the<span style="font-style: italic">twang</span>of bows: all were being carried on the slightly acrid winds that drifted past them.<span style="font-style: italic">Battle. Road. Sprint!</span>The roar of boots trampling on hard packed dirt was drowned out by whatever mess was going on ahead of them.  They ran and ran and ran, the sounds getting both louder and softer.  Whatever had elicited those sounds were dying down: the end of a battle they were missing.  Blue eyes glowed with holy light as they stared at a scene too far away for her mortal body to prevent.  A scream of rage burst from her lips and wings burst into existence.  Her foot kicked off the ground and she was knocked to the ground.  Her head slammed against the dirt and the holy light in her eyes vanished.  A dazed Lethe looked around in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on.  Kanna sat on her stomach, a sword leveled threateningly at the ex-Knight’s throat.<br/><br/>“Control yourself!”  Kanna wasn’t a commander.  She’d never been a leader, always happy to leave the hard decisions to QianHua and Ethera.  But these past ten years of solitude had taught her to speak up, to push back when others pushed first, to withstand a crowd of suspicious looks without caving.  “What were you going to do?  Fly off, rush off, leave yourself vulnerable to attacks?”  The girl—or was it woman now?—struggled but was unable to get off the ground.<br/><br/><span style="color: silver"> “Those people! They’re—!”</span>Whatever she had seen was enough to make her incoherent, never a good sign.  Lethe had always been composed, sometimes to a ridiculous degree.  Whatever was up ahead was bad enough for Lethe to lose all sense of reason.  Kanna leaned forward, ignoring the glide of the blade against her skin.  She ignored the red drops that fell from her face as she stared into blue eyes.  “You’re no use to them dead.”  The six words dropped like stones, dragging the hostile mood from the Knights around her into solemnity.  “Whatever is up there, you can’t help it if you’re dead.”  The desperation was finally bleeding into resignation.  Kanna hated it.  She hated having to force this young girl to be even more mature.  As if the white-haired Knight hadn’t had enough heaped onto her shoulders, now Kanna had to be the one to force the other girl to bear more, bear whatever atrocity she’d seen that had driven herself to forget reason and try to sprint off.  Once she was certain Lethe wouldn’t go running off, Kanna straightened herself and stood up.  The rest of Lethe’s squad stood around her, narrow eyes watching her suspiciously.  Good.  A squad should always be loyal to their Captain.  Kanna held her head aloft as Lethe coughed at her feet and then shakily climbed back up.<br/><br/><span style="color: Silver">“Let’s go.”</span>The words were said in monotone, all emotion now carefully hidden away.  The squad slowly walked away, falling back into formation.  Only the eldest Knight, Valiar, stayed behind.  He lifted a hand glowing with healing to her face and healed her wound.  He must have noticed how little holy magic she’d used in the fight.  No longer a Pristine Knight, she’d diverted most of her magic away from holy energy into elemental magic.  The latter was more useful in the world, when not dealing with Sinners.  “They’re young.”  He commented offhandedly, eyes looking at the retreating backs rather than her.<br/><br/>“Yes,” she agreed, her gaze also on the squad in front of her.  “It’s good to be young and impulsive.  She just can’t afford it.  Not now.”<br/><br/>“What’s ahead of us?”<br/><br/>“I don’t know.  But whatever it was made her lose reason.”<br/><br/>Valiar said nothing in response but started jogging after the group.  Kanna followed silently.<br/><br/>Fifteen minutes later, they stood on a cliff overlooking Santa Olivia.  Or more accurately, the remnants of Santa Olivia.  The city had been destroyed.  Rubble laid where the last bastion of the Divine Light had once stood.  Corpses littered the place, many without armor of any sort.  The attackers had even killed the civilians, slaughtered really if the mass pile of armorless people—men, women, children—with arrows sticking out of their heads was any indication.  A firing squad.  Kanna surveyed the scene with impassive eyes, knowing she’d break down crying otherwise.  No one could afford that.  All nine men and women stared at the ruins with dry eyes, faces set in grim determination.  They noted the mess of body parts scattered on the ground like flower petals.  A half broken head here.  An arm there.  A knee, a torso—they all swarmed together into a mess of cruelties.  The only standing structure was the wall, and it appeared that had only been spared to display the line of Knight corpses hanging from the ramparts.  Above it all hung a single sign: the symbol of Sin.<br/><br/>The words of prayer fell from numb lips.  She wasn’t sure who had started it first, but now all nine of them invoked the words, the prayer of a safe journey into the embrace of the Light.  When one stopped, another started and then the words kept tumbling and tumbling into the air, dropping futilely onto the atrocity below.  She’d seen… The line of Sin drawn back. No no no.  The mixes of taint and light-NO NO NO. Falling. Falling. Words falling. Light and dark falling.  All of it was falling.  It was all falling<span style="font-style: italic">up</span>to her.<br/><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: red">How long are you going to keep your eyes closed?  Like I’ll let you.</span></span></div><br/>She stopped abruptly.  The first voice to fall silent.  One by one the others also drew out of the prayer.  When it was finally silent (<span style="font-style: italic">no longer threatening to <span style="text-decoration: underline">consume</span> her</span>), she lifted a hand.<span style="font-style: italic">Go.</span>They fled the scene and the taint of Sin.  Let someone else deal with it.  (<span style="font-style: italic">The mix of light and dark toppled backwards, impaled by the shaft of Sin</span>.)  She couldn’t do it.