Prologue
“A! Get your head in the game. It’s time to go.”
A is finally getting up from laying down on a grassy slope on the outskirts of the palace. He has spikey silver hair and a set of black eyes that could scare off the creepiest of serpents, along with abnormally long incisors. He is of average height with a warrior build, being a semi muscular torso and fit enough legs. He has a white shirt with the sleeves cut off and black pants.
“Finally, time to play, huh?” he asked Krow, who was scowling at him at this point.
“Yes, if you have time for it with all the beauty rest you need.”
A met that with a half-smile. Krow then motioned over to the other five members of the group that it was time to move. Krow is a towering figure of at least 7 feet, with a mysterious personality. He has long black hair and the armor of the Old Age. The other five members consisted of another magi-human named Bucket, a mountain goblin by the name of Gustov, a tall female elf named Harrem, and a rock troll everybody called Stone.
Nate is sitting by the fountain, just like he does every weekend afternoon, waiting for his three friends to meet him. He is the eldest of the four, being seventeen, but the shyest. For him, as he would always say it was a bloody miracle, he has one friend, much less three. He is of little stature for his age, but with his place in the future of the High Guard, that did not really matter.
He finally sees them approaching. He spots the twins first, as he always did. Angelica and Eve, the twin daughters of the maiden of finance in the High Guard. They are sixteen years of age, but for being twins, look nothing alike. Angelica is the blonde-haired twin with a slightly taller stature, and brown eyes. She always wears a pink dress that came down to her knees, so much so it was speculated that it is the only garment she owns. Eve is of a smaller stature with short brown hair and bright green eyes. Her apparel is always more tomboyish with today being no different. She is in a pair of blue trousers and a white shirt with hardly any sleeves.
After the twins came the princess Evangeline. She is also sixteen with long blonde hair put in braids, bright blue eyes and angelic face. She has on the classic yellow summer dress she usually sported during the summer months along with black sandals.
“So… are you excited Evangeline? Mother told us that your betrothal ceremony is going to be in three weeks. Have you met him yet? I want all the details!”
“Calm down Eve.” The princess said with a playful smile. “I am not sure how to feel. I know it is part of my duty as princess but that does not take the fear away. How is one supposed to love and trust someone in this way?”
“Who needs love and trust when you are marrying a prince?” Angelica spouted begrudgingly.
“That is easy for you and I to say sister, but we also have the right to choose our love.”
With that said, Nate could not help but stare at Eve as he always did, and then quickly glance away as her gaze came to almost meet his. “And what love do you girls have?” Nate said in a half sincere request.
With that question, the three girls just looked at each other and burst out laughing, which left Nate embarrassed and red faced. As he was about shout out a lame rebuttal, water came through the corn field behind the fountain and table they were sitting on. The blast hit Angelica square in the face and knocked her out cold. Eve and Evangeline were stuck in surprise and fear. Then, not but a few seconds later the six figures popped out of the corn. The tallest figure grabbed the short hair of Eve and threw her aside like trash. Her head hit the fountain and the wound started to bleed rapidly. Nate did not know what to do, so he ran to get his parents, who oversaw keeping the king and princess safe.
As he was running away the tall figure drew an incantation in the air and pushed it towards the running boy. His aim struck true as it hit the boy right before he turned the corner of the palace. As Nate fell to the ground, he bellowed one shout to get the attention of his mother, the Second Knight.
“Heeellllp!”
Lynna heard the cry of her son and got her four other guards’ attention and they all strove for the fountain. They were too late. Evangeline is gone and the other kids were knocked out cold. Lynna could see the trail through the cornfield and beckoned her underlings to follow it.
The six kidnappers made it outside the wall of Holy Ember through the underground ditch they dug out to get in. They almost made it to the woods when A, who is holding their newly acquired hostage, stopped.
“Okay, we got the girl outside the city, like you wanted. Are we taking the necklace now and dumping her?”
“We are taking the girl too.” Krow replied.
With that reply, and as the others started walking, A stood cold. Krow turned around and growled at the disobedient A.
“I said we are taking the girl!’
“That is not what I signed up for. You said all we needed to do was bring her here, get the magic necklace of her neck and leave her.”
“Oh, is that what I said? I lied! Poor you! How bout this, you can take her worthless necklace as payment and give us the girl. We don’t need a weak little pissant like you in our crew anyway!”
With that, A looked at the girl, and sensed the complete and utter fear she was feeling. Then she started to talk.
“Please d… don’t take my necklace… It’s all…”
Bam! Krow moved quickly and punched A right square in the temple, knocking him to the left. Krow thought him to be down and out but before he could lay his hands on the girl, he kicked Krow’s arm away and with that Krow jumped back to the group.
“I didn’t see that kick coming,” he whispered.
Then, the mysterious A’s arms turned black as night and he brought what seemed to be a sword out of the palms of his hands.
“I will go ahead and take this necklace!” He said as he took the sword and just grazed the jewelry enough for it to come of the princess’ neck.
“But…” but as he started to finish his sentence the Second guard appeared.
“Halt! Lay down your arms and surrender at once. You will not go anywhere with our princess!”
Then in a flick of her wrist, Harrem the elf created a cage in mid air and threw it on top of A and the princess. Then the big rock troll tucked in his extremities and started to roll away with the Goblin balancing himself on top of him. As the other human and elf were running off, Krow glared at A and the princess and then shouted “This is not the end of this little man! I will get what I want!” With that, he started to run off as well.
The Second guard paid little mind to them since they ran away. They had their swords and bow pointed straight at A inside the cage.
“I would advise you to let go of that necklace and not lay one more finger on her!” shouted Lynna. A now has his swords pointed toward the girl but in a stance at least three or four paces away from her. Then, as if all the situations ran through his head, the sword just disappeared, and the black in his arms went away and he just laid down.
“We will be here a while…” is all that he said.
“How did you… and how did this…” Evangeline started to sputter. Lynna interrupted her.
“We have a lot of things to explain to you child… but not right now. Did this man hurt you? He will be hung if…”
“No, besides carrying me away from my home, he caused me no harm.” She stated as she stared at him and his deep black eyes. Why did he kidnap her and then try to save her? How did this cage come out of nowhere? What happened to his arms and where did that blade come from?
