Hadi and Charon sat beside each other in a small hidden section of the brush, their eyes focused on the trail in front of them. The co-ordinates Dolion had given them led to the middle of a forest-like environment, albeit one without a single tree. Instead of trees, on this planet huge formations of land arose from the ground, like great jagged uneven dirt spikes. Different plants and fungi grew on it, and on the ground around it, providing foliage and bushes in amongst the large towers of land. In this particular area, a path had been cut straight through the entire jungle for anyone who was travelling through on foot. Since they were waiting by the path, it seemed evident that the party they were planning on ambushing were on foot rather than operating a Foalk. The city was likely still getting over the methods the trio used to escape it, so it was a good thing this area was relatively far away from it. After Dolion's message, the group had driven their Foalk to the very edge of the underground wall. The way the city worked was that there were sensors all over the underground, and as soon as anyone tried to get through via Foalk or other methods, the alarms were instantly triggered and teams of authorities were dispatched to deal with it. The plan of escape was relatively simple. Across the city, many resistance members would trigger those alarms at positions extremely far away from one another. While the authorities were dealing with it, the trio would break through their own part of the wall and blitz it away from the city as fast as they could. The teams would be spread too thin to deal with them at that point, and they would make an easy escape and head towards their next location. Now, Leona was on her way to the resistance base with everything they took from the Sage's library in their Foalk, while the twins sat in waiting for the royal family member to arrive. There was a strange sort of awkward tension between the twins, one Charon inevitably broke "What do you plan on doing when we get back to the resistance?" Hadi looked up at his brother, and for just a second he saw a glimpse of the man he'd grown up with - the loyal brother he'd always love and trust. But then the dying woman's face took form in his mind, and in an instant there before him stood the man that murdered a carriage-full of innocent people mere hours before. He would never again see him the way he did before, nor would he ever agree to do something in the name of the rebellion or his father again. "Leave." He answered simply, secretly attempting to keep the conversation with his brother to a minimum. "Where will you go?" Charon asked, though he didn't sound even remotely intrigued. Hadi didn't know why, but in all honesty he didn't care. "Wherever. It doesn't matter, as long as I never have to do anything for the rebellion again." He said, his clawed hand scraping tightly against the ground beneath him. "I'm sorry you feel that way Hadi." Charon replied, though yet again there was no meaning behind his words "I just need to make sure your head is in the right place for what we're about to do." Hadi stayed quiet for a second, then shook his head "This is the last thing I'll ever do for you Charon. And that's the only reason I'm even doing it - for you. I'll help you get your powers, then you can take my place as the figurehead of the rebellion and I never have to be a part of it again." "You could transfer me your powers you know. Then we'd never even have to do this - no more killing. We could just go home." Charon said, sounding oddly convincing in the matter. Hadi had thought about it himself however, and while the idea of not having to kill anyone else sounded good, he knew it was likely he'd need to protect himself if Dolion sent someone after him once he left. He knew all the rebellions secrets after all, it would be a sort of insurance so that he'd never go and tell the royal family anything that would jeopardise them. Also, he still believed the royal family was corrupt and evil. He had no qualms with killing one of them, he just no longer had the motivation to try and take them down after what happened to those innocent people in the Foalk. "No, Charon. I'm sorry but I don't plan on throwing my life away just yet, and giving you these powers would be doing just that. I merely want to...escape. That's all." Hadi explained to him, not facing him and merely hearing his words hang in the air. "Alright." His brother said eventually, sighing as he brought the conversation to a close "That's fine."
After a long while of waiting in silence, voices could be heard approaching from afar. Hadi and Charon immediately perked up in hearing it, moving very slightly to try and get a better look at what they were hearing. Far down the path was a group of people, walking in a formation that seemed almost like a square, with a few speaking quietly to one another. As they approached Hadi and Charon managed to make out the armour many of them were wearing, a bright red metal with a strange symbol imprinted in yellow on the chest. They were armed, and it seemed they were on the outside of the group to form a perimeter and serve as protection for whoever was closer in. There was twelve of them that could be seen, and from the looks of it there were two on the inside that were the only ones not wearing armour. Hadi and Charon sat with waited breaths, until the party was opposite the brush they were hiding amongst, before they lunged out simultaneously without so much as uttering a word and darted straight for the guards. In an instant the nearest two lost their heads, the twin's blades slicing straight through their necks in a flash of blood and light. A woman screamed while one of the armoured men shouted an order, prompting the other nine of them to draw their weapons as the twins descended on them. Charon bolted at one, sending a sharp kick to their leg and breaking it instantly, only to cut them down as they fell to their knees. Another man ran at him and swung his blade, but Charon was quick to parry it to the side then spin and plunge his own blade straight through his chest, with enough force to break clean through his armour and pierce his heart. Hadi ran at another, slashing down his chest and ending his life before he could draw his weapon, but the next man he turned on had transformed into their true form. It had taken him by surprised - those in the city were strictly banned from changing form, but then again they were far from the city at that moment in time. The man in front of him was a single-horned yellow skinned, a fairly uncommon colour that were notorious for their speed, which he demonstrated right off the bat by bolting to the side of Hadi, attempting to catch him off guard and stick him in the side with his blade. Hadi had seen it coming however, and unlucky for the man was fast enough to counter. He spun to face him, gripping the tip of the sword and stopping it in its tracks, only to yank it towards him and cause the man to stumble forward - right into Hadi's blade. Hadi turned to see two men converging on him, and four on Charon, all now in their true forms with weapons drawn. Charon rolled under a swing from a blue skinned man who'd flown straight for him, and just as he turned to slice at another he felt something wrap around his foot and suddenly yank him to the ground. Hadi had experienced the same thing - just as he swung his blade at the neck of the beefy green skinned guard in front of him, a red tendril wrapped around the blade of his sword and threw it from his hand with incredible speed and strength. "Stop! Why are you doing this?!" The twins looked up to see the man who the guards had been surrounding, and who obviously was in control of the tendrils, standing in the middle of the path with a woman cowering behind him as he looked between the two. He was tall, and young, with well-kept brown hair amongst which a small crown rested, and red eyes that gave off a friendly yet powerful aura. He was donned in royal garbs, a shining golden robe covering his dark blue overcoat and shirt and reaching all the way down to the ankles of his grey silk trousers. The guards ceased fighting as soon as he took charge of the situation, since he clearly held rank over them, but it soon became clear that this was a mistake. "Now, Hadi!" Charon shouted, which is when his brother threw both arms forward as a bright silver light shone from his hands. Suddenly, a huge wave of silver washed over the ground and large spears and spikes of the same colour began erupting out in all directions in varying shapes and sizes. It looked like a deep metallic material, yet it was harder than steel and formed more like one huge liquid mass that rushed through the guards in front of Hadi and towards the unarmored man and woman. The man stared up at it in shock, only having enough time to push the woman further behind him, however just before it reached him it stopped, freezing entirely in place at Hadi's command. The man froze in confusion for too long an instant, only noticing at the last second that the brother he hadn't been focused on had cut themselves free from the tendril and bolted straight at him. Charon had his blade in his hand, and the instant he was close enough he raised it above his head and brought it clean down to strike the man where he stood. "NO!" The woman's voice rang out through the air and suddenly it was her the blade was coming towards, due to her pushing in front of the man. Her arm was raised, however this didn't do much good as Charon swung the blade clean through it and directly into her shoulder blade, the sheer force of the swing causing the blade to embed so far down her chest it managed to hit her heart, killing her instantly. "INDIRA!" The man screamed in devastation, flinging both hands at Charon as two red beams shot out each hand. One sliced clean across his eye, causing him to yell out in agony as pale purple blood spilled down his face, only for the next to smash into his stomach and send him spiralling backwards away from the man, who instantly dropped to his knees to cradle Indira's cleaved body. Charon lay on the ground, weaponless and bleeding with only one good eye as the four previously armoured men in their true forms converged on him. One blue skinned and two greens ran for him - both greens with single handed swords while the blue held a two handed one - as a black skinned Dohlkai, likely the captain who shouted the order previously, stayed behind holding a double edged axe in one hand and a heavy mace in the second. Charon glanced upwards, just in time to see a blade heading straight for his face and rolling to the side to watch it slam into the dirt. He swung his body and kicked it away, so hard that it spun and sunk clean into one of the dirt spirals at the edge of the path, but the blue skinned who it belonged to was quickly on Charon, his claws digging underneath the opening in his armour plate and tearing it off without much difficultly. Luckily for Charon he didn't exactly need the armour in his form, but as he blearily looked over the blue skins' shoulder and saw the two greens raising their weapons, he quickly realised what a vulnerable position he was in. Thinking quickly he used his wings to throw himself back and to his feet, but as he did the blue skin sunk two handfuls of claws deep into his chest. He cried out in agony, but almost instinctively the pain manifested into anger, his eyes filling with rage as a sudden surge of energy powered through his body. He spun and lunged forward, his wings flapping to give him flight as he shot off away from the other men with the blue skin still attached to his chest. Suddenly, the spiked tips of Charon's wings plunged deep into the man's shoulder blades, causing him to scream out in pain and remove his claws to try and pry himself free. But Charon wasn't done. He dropped to the ground, now further down the path, and forced the blue skin to the floor, immediately plunging his own lengthy claws straight through the man's chest. A horrible noise came from the man and filled the air as purple blood erupted around Charon's fingers, but the noise only lasted a few seconds before the red skinned Dohlkai lunged forward at the man, his sharp set of canine teeth ripping clean into his throat. Charon chomped down, then ripped out more than half of the man's neck with only his teeth before spitting it out on the path, still glaring down at the now very dead Dohlkai. Slowly and deliberately he stood up, purple blood leaking down from both his mangled eye and the numerous claw marks in his chest as he turned to look at the two bulked up green skins, grinning sinisterly as he watched them falter hesitantly.
While this had been happening, the two guards Hadi hit with his attack had recovered and had come running towards him - a green skin with a single sided axe and another yellow skin with two short blades. The green one was bleeding badly from three different spots on his body - the leg, shoulder, and waist - where Hadi's silver spikes had pierced straight through, yet somehow he was ignoring the pain enough to walk undeterred towards the man. The yellow had been agile enough to dodge most of the spikes, but it appeared one had caught them in the arm, where a large bleeding cut was prominent. Hadi watched them approach, hardly worried about dealing with them - that is until a red beam shot straight for his head, prompting him to instinctively dodge to the side before looking at where it had come from. The man who was clearly the twin's target stood up from where the dead woman lay, his form rapidly changing from a regular human to a red-skinned Dohlkai as his golden cloak burned away; the body heat from his new form disintegrating it but leaving the rest of his clothes. He splayed his palms wide by his sides, his eyes burning with hatred, and suddenly an avalanche of red beams came thundering towards Hadi. Instantly it became apparent that there was far to many to dodge, so he rapidly thought of another alternative. Two thin, reflexive circles of silver formed on either of Hadi's palms, and he rapidly pushed them together then threw them apart. The discs merged, then left his hands as they expanded to form what looked exactly like a rippling puddle of silver in mid-air, facing towards the array of beams while Hadi stood behind it. The beams all erupted into it in an explosion of red, yet the silver shield took all of it without so much as quivering. When the barrage stopped Hadi dropped the shield, only to watch as the man shot through the air towards him, grabbing him by the throat with both hands and carrying him back towards the jungle. Hadi dug his claws deep into the man's hands but his grip didn't loosen in the slightest, until he smashed the other man backwards into one of the dirt pillars and pulled back his fist. Hadi's head darted to the side, a split second before the man's fist slammed into the pillar and created a huge crater in the side of it. A small circle of silver appeared around Hadi's wrist, and with the opposite hand he rapidly grabbed it and tugged its malleable form over his hand, causing it to expand and form a silver glove which had a sharp triangular arrowhead that protruded past his knuckles. A red tendril suddenly wrapped tight around his neck however, raising him up into the air, but before the man could fire a beam into his head Hadi punched his gloved hand into his ribs, causing the arrowhead to embed deep in his flesh. The man yelled in pain, as Hadi slashed the tendril with his claw and retracted his fist. Another silver circle appeared on his palm as he slammed it into the man's opposite side, which in an enormous explosion of silver sent him flying sideways through the jungle, hopefully incapacitated for the time being. Hadi took off back towards the path, spotting the other two Dohlkai as he flew straight at them and immediately sent both feet into the green one's chest, causing him to shoot across the path with a boom as he took the hit full on. Immediately Hadi spun on the yellow one, who darted at him with both blades ready to attack, but unfortunately he didn't have the patience to play fair at that point. The man swung both blades at a downwards angle, which Hadi merely ducked under before shooting upwards and slamming the bottom of both palms under his chin. Two spikes of silver protruded from his hands and straight through the man's skull, poking out past the top of his head right next to his pair of horns. He yanked his hands away, letting the dead man's body drop to the ground, but as he did he heard the man from the forest emerge and send a red beam firing at him again. Hadi cursed and looked for cover, but in finding none formed two circles on both arms and dragged them back up to his hands once again to form silver plated armour, holding both up as he waited for the next beam. Another came, which he quickly deflected with his plate, sending the beam of red energy off in a different direction. "My name is Maeik Dragnura." The man said as he walked towards Hadi, his eyes locked - unblinking - on the other red skin's as he fired yet another beam, only for it to be blocked again "And I swear on the life of my Indira, you will not leave this place alive." Red energy formed in his hand again, which Hadi prepared to counter, but unexpectedly it began to crawl over Maeik's fist, then coat up his arm in a wave of transparent red. The world seemed to descend into silence as he slowly pulled back his fist, before he suddenly threw it forward and sent a huge, red, thundering mass of energy at Hadi with a crack. The man knew there was no escape, but did all he could to form another silver shield with very little hope of actually blocking it. It managed to take the brunt of the attack, however around its edges the rest of the encompassing mass barrelled through and smashed into Hadi thanks to his being larger than the shield itself. He flew back, pummelling straight through one of the dirt spirals and causing it to collapse entirely, then lay in amongst the foliage, unmoving.
Charon had turned away from the two green Dohlkai in front of him just in time to see his brother be practically demolished by the attack, his face contorting in anger as he watched Maeik fly after him. He wanted badly to go after him, but he knew they'd likely be overwhelmed if he didn't deal with the most immediate threat first. One of the green skins ran at him and swung their blade down on top of him, allowing Charon to rapidly dart to the side and slice his claws straight through the man's hip - drawing a mere grunt of pain from him. Charon caught a glimpse of another blade coming down towards him from his blind side, unable to do more than raise his arm in a feeble attempt to block. The sword sunk into his arm, yet didn't have enough momentum to cut it clean off. Charon growled and spun to send a kick right into the second green skin's head, causing the other to lose his grip on his sword and leave it embedded in Charon's arm. Hurriedly yanking the blade out by the hilt, Charon pivoted to swing it straight into the other green skin's neck as they cried out in pain. The blade wasn't strong enough to cut the full way through, but it severely dented his neck and caused a spray of purple blood to erupt from the wound. Charon retracted the sword, causing the green skin to clutch his neck tightly in a futile attempted to stop the bleeding. The one that had been kicked in the head had recovered now, but Charon didn't give him the chance to attack him, instead darting across his front and cutting his gut clean open with the blade. Next he ducked under his left arm as he swung his fist at him, cutting from his hip all the way up to his armpit, before spinning to position himself back-to-back with the man and slamming the sword behind him straight through his chest. The thickness of his skin and muscle caused some resistance at first, but Charon quickly put a foot down and pushed off the ground, sinking the blade straight through the man's heart and knocking him to the ground as he did so. Charon stood on his corpse, dragging the sword out with extreme difficultly as the other green skin locked his gaze on him. He charged, raising his blade with a cry of anger - which came out as a measly gargle of blood - only for it to be stopped before it could cut down the red skin. Charon's hand gripped the blade of the sword tightly as the green skin stood in place, before he finally freed his now purple blood stained sword and lunged forward. His foot cracked into the man's ankle, emitting a horrible snap as he fell to one knee and let go of his sword, allowing Charon to flip it around and hold it in his free hand. Lightning quick Charon darted around the side of the man, holding both swords together and placing them just outside the man's neck wound, facing outwards, before in one slick movement he spun in a full 360 degree angle and sent both swords through the other side of his neck, decapitating him fully with ease due to the already wide-open wound. Charon breathed heavily, then wiped the blood from his bad eye with an arm. A large cut ran diagonally up across his eye, forcing his eyelid shut, and making it clear that it was completely impossible for him to see out of. He wasn't even sure the Dohlkai medicine they had available would be enough to heal it, and that pissed him off even more. Slight movement in the corner of his eye made him turn rapidly, facing the black skinned Dohlkai who was slowly walking towards him. He cursed, having forgotten about there being one more he still had to deal with, but with a grim resolve he spun the blades in his hands before gripping them tight, starting to walk towards the man to meet him.
Hadi lay still on his back in amongst the brush for a few seconds, groaning as his armour sizzled in many places. Many of the plates that lined it had fallen off, and the exposed flesh on his arms and legs were charred from the attack, but he still felt able to go on fighting. He tried to get up, but suddenly found that his right arm was hardly moving. Looking over he saw that it had been crushed under the huge dirt spire, and as he tried to pull it out he suddenly felt the pressure increase tenfold as a red skinned foot pressed down hard on it. A red tendril wrapped tightly around his left arm, holding it in place just as he was about to turn to attack the red skinned man. Maeik stared down at him coldly, his foot denting the dirt pillar with the amount of pressure he was putting on it "How dare you use my Aunt's powers against me. Your own mother's - twisted to be used to kill the people she loved." Hadi froze in shock, ceasing his struggle as he stared up at Maeik. He didn't understand what he was saying - he was mistaken, clearly, but he seemed so convinced by his own words that it made him hesitate slightly. "What are y-" Hadi stared to speak but was cut off by Maeik sending a red beam into his bound arm. It didn't have the power to blast a hole in it entirely, but it was painful enough to make Hadi scream out. "You don't even know?" Maeik scoffed, then pointed his hand directly at Hadi's head "Normally I would take pity on you because of that. But not this time. For Indira." Just before he was able to fire, a huge legion of silver spears erupted from beneath Maeik, bursting from the dirt pillar and splitting it open before continuing to pierce straight through the man's arm, leg and ribs. He shouted in pain as Hadi retracted his arm from the dirt pillar, then hurriedly conjured a silver blade in his palm and sliced the red tendrils up rapidly. Maeik fired three beams from his hand rapidly, breaking each silver spire that pierced him before turning his palm on Hadi and attempting to hit him with one. The man had seen it coming however and was already on Maeik, a small silver plate shield forming on his forearm which he hurriedly blocked the beam with. As soon as he was in range Hadi swung his other hand at Maeik's head, encasing it in a full silver spiked ball that collided violently with his head and sent him sprawling to the ground. Maeik shielded his face as purple blood flowed down it, but Hadi was smart enough not to aim for his face. He swung his maced fist in a full arch then sent it flying straight down towards Maeik's gut, failing to anticipate that the man would turn and kick his arm off course, causing it to slam harmlessly into the ground. As soon as it did red tendrils formed around it, holding it in place as many red beams fired right towards Hadi's torso from Maeik's hand. He cursed, thinking quickly and dropping hurriedly to one knee to slap his free palm down as a burst of silver erupted from it. The silver formed a casing around Hadi that protected him from the arsenal of red beams, as well as providing him with enough time to break free from the tendrils yet again. Hadi dismissed the silver cover, but Maeik had been waiting for it, immediately lunging with his claws bared to sink them into his throat. Hadi caught his hand, then rapidly moved it over his shoulder as a beam fired harmlessly behind him. Maeik tried to aim at him with his other hand but Hadi did the same exact thing before dragging him down, bringing his knee upwards into his gut to brutally smash it straight into him and cause him to cough up a mound of purple blood. Hadi sunk his claws into Maeik's wrists to keep a tight grip on him as an almost liquid silver rushed from his hands to cover both of Maeik's arms in a second. The man swore, then pulled his arms back as far as he could and kicked Hadi flat in the chest with all his might. His claws were ripped out as he flew backwards into a dirt pillar but the silver remained, rapidly solidifying into a solid sheet and forming a harmless blob where Maeik's hands were. A loud clanging sound rang out as he tried to fire a beam, but the silver hardly even shook at the impact. Hadi flew straight for Maeik again, cracking him across the jaw so quickly that the man barely even lifted his hand to try and block. He fell to the ground, but before he hit it Hadi grabbed him from behind, his arm wrapping around his neck, before he suddenly flew off through the jungle with Maeik in his grasp. The man struggled, hitting Hadi with as much force as he could muster with his silver blob fists, but Hadi avoided him with ease until they arrived back at the path, when he dropped him to the ground and stood on his chest "Charon! Quickly!"
Charon looked away from the black skinned Dohlkai just as they were roughly two feet apart, spotting Hadi with Maeik hammering his leg beneath him. Without an instants hesitation Charon darted lighting quick towards Hadi, swords already raised, but just as he was about to swing them down into Maeik's head a heavy blow smashed straight into his side, causing him to roar in pain as he flew sideways and tumbled across the path. The black skinned Dohlkai had somehow managed to keep pace with him, obliterating his ribcage with his heavy black mace before swinging the double sided axe in his other hand down on top of Hadi. He only managed to turn just in time, receiving the sharp axe blow right in the shoulder which knocked him off balance and to the ground a few feet away from Maeik. Without a single command needing to be spoken Maeik threw both hands up right as the black skin swung his axe again, colliding it directly with the silver that encased his arms and shattering it completely. Whatever metal the weapon was made of, it was unimaginably destructive, and Charon took note of this as he pushed himself to his feet and retrieved his two bloodied blades. Maeik's hands seemed relatively unscathed as he rapidly stood, now back to back with the black skin as he faced Hadi - now also on his feet again - while the black skin stared down Charon. There was an odd moment of ceasefire as the men simply watched each other, and then all hell broke loose mere seconds later. Maeik and the black skin ran towards their respectively targets, however Charon was one step ahead and threw his blade straight at the black skin's face to try and catch him off guard. He stopped in his tracks momentarily, but managed to knock the blade up and behind him with his mace as he continued his charge. "Hadi!" "On it!" Hadi fired a small streak of silver straight from his fingertip, which struck Charon's flying blade with enough force to send it zooming back in his direction. Charon slid on both knees directly under the black skin's axe swing, then reached out to narrowly catch the sword in mid air before swinging straight for the man's neck. He somehow seemed to sense it coming however, ducking just in time before spinning to swing his mace at Charon's torso. His sword shot up in a flash however, rapidly deflecting and throwing the man's weapon back as he lunged forward and attempted to pierce him in the chest. The black skin sidestepped, then suddenly closed his arm and trapped Charon's sword there as he swung his mace again. Charon grabbed his wrist, sword still in hand, to stop the attack, but didn't account for the black skin smashing his head straight into his face and knocking him to the floor, weaponless. Meanwhile, Hadi and Maeik were clashing viciously with their powers. Innumerable tendrils shot straight out from Maeik's back, all flying for Hadi as he sent a flurry of red beams at him alongside them. A silver plate formed on one of Hadi's forearms while a disc appeared in his palm, which he rapidly fired at the tendrils by flicking his wrist and sending it shooting through the air. As it connected with the tendrils it sliced them clean off, and as the beams approached Hadi he either blocked them with his other arm or dodged out of the way. Numerous more discs flew out of his palm to deal with the increasing number of tendrils, and suddenly the pair found themselves at a standstill. Eventually Maeik ceased his assault with the tendrils for a second to simply focus on firing beams as he suddenly shot towards Hadi, but then an especially large tendril launched from his palm aiming straight for Hadi's throat. He only had time to raise his plated arm to block as it wrapped around it, but Hadi was much more experience with Maeik's powers now and rapidly wrapped the rest of his arm around it, then yanked it towards him. This certainly took Maeik by surprise, causing him to stumble as Hadi flicked his wrist and sent a sharp disc at his side. It cut straight through his waist, causing him to cry out and clutch it in agony as he hurriedly retracted the tendrils and stumbled backwards, blood seeping through his fingers. He glanced down at his wound, then at Hadi, then over at Charon and the black skin, willing a tendril to shoot out across the path extremely quickly before Hadi could figure out what he was doing. Charon was still on the ground, but suddenly rolled rapidly to the side and narrowly avoided the black skin's mace as it slammed into the ground. He then raised his axe, causing Charon to try to roll again, but this time a red tendril wrapped tight around his torso and attached to the ground beneath him to force him to stay in place. The black skin swung his axe down, aiming for a clean decapitation on Charon, until suddenly a whooshing sound filled the air and the man's arm was no longer there, cleanly sliced off by one of Hadi's discs. His axe fell harmlessly to the ground as he stared at his stump, before another disc came and sliced Charon free from his bindings. Immediately he ran for a sword, sweeping it up and going straight towards the black skin as he tried to plunge it straight through his gut. Even with one arm the man was still an elite fighter however, swinging his mace round and bringing it sideways down into Charon's wrist with what should've been enough force to outright snap it. The blade slid harmless to the side as he man brought his kneecap up into Charon's already damaged ribs. The red skin cried out, stumbling forward as the black skin sidestepped away from him. The man remained entirely stoic and emotionless, however Charon grinned in some sort of sick amusement despite his gruesome injuries. He ran forward, feigning a jab at the man's open side which he moved to block with his mace, only to switch and slash his blade across the side of the man's head. The black skin cursed and spat, unable to clutch his head and simply letting the blood flow freely down the side of it. Charon grinned this time, then to tease the man raised his arm and slowly placed it behind his back, beckoning him forward with his other hand. The man yelled in defiance and lunged for him, bringing his mace heavily down on top of him which Charon quickly pivoted away from. Almost as though he expected it the man continued his swing sideways right towards Charon's gut, but he managed to duck under his bicep and swing his sword at his side. He cut deep, feeling a sense of satisfaction as he finally got his groove for fighting back, staying on his toes as he watched the man. The black skin yelled again, then suddenly charged forward with his entire body, aiming to barge into Charon and take him by surprise. With an elegant ease that came purely on instinct he stepped out of the way, but didn't realise that the man never planned on hitting him in the first place. Suddenly switching his weight to his other foot, the black skin swung his mace and cracked it clean into Charon's leg as he screamed out and crumpled to the ground. The black skin immediately stood on his leg as Charon tried to grab his just out of reach sword, eliciting more cries of agony from him as he gritted his fangs tight. He raised his mace, eyes staring unblinkingly down at him right as Charon reached behind him, and then swung with all his might downwards. Charon's hand flicked forward almost imperceptibly quick, causing the man the freeze mid swing. His mace still travelled downwards, but Charon just managed to dart his head to the side to avoid it as it thunked into the ground beside him. Purple blood began to spill down on his face as a choking sound emitted from above him, the black skinned Dohlkai letting go of his mace to slowly reach up and brush his fingertips against the hilt of the Staelic metal throwing knife embedded in his throat. Charon let out a sigh of relief as the life slowly left the man's eyes, then his body fell forward and landed lifelessly on top of him - causing him to elicit a small groan.
Hadi watched as his silver disc successfully sliced the black skin's arm clean off, leaving Charon to deal with him as he turned back to look at Maeik and only just realising what a fatal error he'd made in taking his eyes off him for a second. In the instant Hadi was distracted looking over at Charon, a second red tendril had shot out of Maeik's hand and wrapped around Hadi's discarded sword - the Staelic, Dohlkai killing one - retracting rapidly and leaving the blade in the red skinned man's hand. All Hadi saw as he turned back to Maeik was a flash of white and red, before a horrible searing agony erupted from his chest. It was the worst pain he'd ever felt, like his own blood was boiling beneath his skin as it tore itself open from the inside - yet somehow Hadi never even thought to scream out. The blade was plunged straight through the centre of his chest piece, piercing through his torso and coming out the other side as he simply looked down at it in uncomprehending shock. "For Indira." Maeik was by his side, hand gripping the hilt of the sword before he slowly let go, leaving it embedded in Hadi's chest as he went limp - only to be caught by the man who had just signed his death sentence. Slowly and carefully Maeik lowered Hadi down until he lay on the ground, moving to a kneeling position and letting Hadi's head lay on his lap to prevent the sword from causing more pain. Slowly, Hadi's eyes drifted from his own blade handle up to Maeik's eyes just as the man transformed into his human form, before in a frail, weak voice words began to trickle from between his lips "This isn't what I wanted..." Maeik looked down at him, a strange, softer and more sympathetic expression now on his face "Me neither. Rest now, cousin." "Cousin...? You mentioned my mother, earlier...what-...what do you know?" It suddenly occurred to Hadi what a strange moment it was speaking to the man he'd just been trying to kill as though they were old friends, but it was overtaken by his curiosity towards what Maeik was saying about their family. "Let me impart my memories on you - you should be able to understand everything. I'm sorry, Hadi. I'm sorry for what the world has done to us." With these words Maeik held a glowing red hand in front of Hadi's face, then placed his palm against his forehead as his memories rushed into him. And with it Hadi's entire world changed.
Everything was a lie. Everything except Charon being his brother, it seemed. Through the eyes of an eight year old Maeik he watched as the life he should've had was experienced by his blood-related cousin. Everything he was taught, everything he knew about the world - the real world - now made itself known to Hadi. The way the Royal Family worked, one day Maeik's father - Hadi's uncle - sat down and explained it all to the young boy. The trait of being a red skin was exclusive only to their family - even if someone was married in the red skin genes were entirely dominant and would be expressed in each and every one of the children. That didn't seem like a huge deal to Maeik at the time; especially since he had never actually seen the true form of someone who wasn't a red skin. What came next he was far more interested in however. His father explained how the Dohlkai powers worked, telling him how no other Dohlkai on the planet had the ability to wield the powers they did. What happened was when one of the royal family members reached a certain age, they were able to relinquish their powers entirely - forcing them out of their body, in a way. The powers, almost seeming like they had a mind of their own, would then go straight for the next oldest red skin alive, who hadn't previously inhibited powers, and bound themselves to their bodies. The exact same thing happened when a power-wielding red skin died, and if there were no uninhabited family members left it would simply attach itself to the youngest red skin alive and lie dormant until a new child was born. Maeik had an enjoyable childhood, getting on with most of his extended families and cousins and such, but then came the day of the Queen's death. Her body was discovered by the King himself, along with the empty cots of his two newborn twins, and then the established order of the city practically crumbled to pieces. The King spiralled into a state of grieving devastation, while Maeik's father tried his best to take over all his responsibilities and keep some sort of law and authority in place. All that came afterwards was Maeik's life: his first time outside the palace where he met a young beggar girl his age; his father's lack of parental affection due to all his struggles to manage the city; then his transformation into adulthood, where he gained his grandfather's powers and fell in love with his childhood friend - the orphaned beggar who's life he saved by taking her in to stay in the royal palace. Next came their wedding, a tiny celebration consisting of just the two of them and a few guards outside of the city, a perfect day for the both of them. Until the trip home, that was.
Hadi's consciousness rushed back to him, and with it the memories of Maeik's past life permanently remained. He shifted in Maeik's lap, groaning in pain as the sword still protruded from his chest, then looked over at Indira, the innocent beggar girl who now lay dead and mangled on the path, Charon's sword still in her torso. "I'm sorry..." He whispered croakily, looking at Maeik with true regret and sorrow in his eyes "I'm sorry." "Don't be. Y-" Maeik's head suddenly snapped up away from Hadi as the black skin Dohlkai's axe came spinning straight for his face. His hand shot up, catching the axe by the blade and stopping it in its tracks before dropping it to the path. Charon was stood across the path, having thrown the axe, and now ran straight for Maeik. Almost uncaringly, the man flicked his hand and sent a group of tendrils flying for Charon, who jumped over one and sliced another with his claws, before being overpowered by them as they wrapped rapidly around his body and constricted tightly. Charon fell to the ground, his arms behind his back as he tried fruitlessly to escape, before even more tendrils wrapped around him and held him still. "Wait" Hadi said, looking over at his brother, then at Maeik "He's unarmed. Please just...leave him for now." It looked like the man wasn't quite sure what to do with Charon either. All he saw was the man that took his wife from him, but at the same time he was just as misunderstood as Hadi and posed practically no threat to him. He kept him bound, decided he'd figure out what to do later, and turned back to Hadi, who looked as though his life was slowly escaping him. "I can put you out your misery. If that's what you want." Maeik said softly to him, but Hadi slowly and weakly shook his head. "No...just let me look up above." He muttered, staring at the brightly lit sky above him "I've been kept underground my entire life. I'd like to enjoy this at the very least." "Okay." Maeik said with a nod, before slowly sliding out from under Hadi and keeping him up with his hand. Carefully and meticulously he lay him back down, causing the sword to push out from his front slightly, before finally he lay flat on the ground, looking at Maeik, then the sky "Thank you." Maeik nodded to Hadi, then glanced over at Indira and made a small sign across his chest "May Heimskor smile on both your souls." He stared over at the body of his wife, true sorrow and upset plain on his face as Hadi watched him. A sudden piercing screech filled the air however, and Maeik's expression of devastation changed instantaneously into one of shocked anguish, as the left side of his chest erupted in a spray of purple blood. Charon's Staelic throwing knife passed straight through his torso, continuing on towards the jungle after slicing his heart in two. His eyes widened as he stood standing for a single second, before in his final act he shakily reached out towards Indira - only for the life to leave his eyes as he collapsed forward; dead. Hadi stared in shock at Maeik's body, before his gaze slowly travelled over to Charon who stood across the path, having cut himself free from the tendrils and glaring at the man he just killed. A red glow suddenly emitted from Maeik's body, burning bright as it lifted up into the air, before it burst open and it's particles of red shot straight towards Charon and hit him square in the chest. He stumbled backwards but remained standing as the glow filled his entire body, before slowly diminishing as his eyes lit up with a newfound vitality and a grin of accomplishment spread across his face "Finally."