- South-Eastern Kandarinian border -
-"Oh," Ekaterina sighed. "They all ran off. That's no good..."
She jerked her flail from another broken Malanos, and started heading back over to Czernn and Joseph in the distance. On her way, she noticed some movement somewhere to the left... The bulky armour did not allow her to move as fast as she normally would, but with some effort, she turned around to see thirteen people shambling over to a nearby docked ship.
-"What do we have here? Some rats trying to escape? As I said... that's no good..."
Having said that, she charged at the group, swinging the monstrous three-headed flail as she ran...
- The Forest -
-"Oh, no, I wouldn't dream of asking you for doing such a thing... Please, you've saved my life - let me repay the favour. It's unlikely that my parents would be in any danger, because... because..."
She looked around herself, and, after a moment of contemplation, whispered:
-"Eh... I'm afraid... I didn't tell you the whole truth... My parents are... were... well-respected scientists of the Sovereignty. If Kronos were to capture them, it's highly unlikely that he would kill them right away. They're probably held in a comfortable, but locked-down, hole. There's a certain job they were assigned to do, and... well... after realizing the potential of its power, they tried to destroy the project... but they were caught. Before everything else, Kronos will want them to finish that project. He wouldn't dare do anything el--"
Lily was cut off by a rustling nearby. Whatever made the noise probably became aware that it was spotted at the moment, and dropped the hiding act completely.
*Screeeech...*
The too-familiar sound of grinding metal, laboured breathing, and blood-chilling moans ripped the peaceful silence. The branches moved apart, revealing...
-"It's an Augment! Run! Dear god, run!"
- Helternian Tavern -
-"Eh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that..." Ein said casually. "Just generic resistance against Kronos, I suppose. I lurked about their captured towns, managing to snipe a soldier here or there. Killed a few Necrolytes... Apparently, to no effect... Damn, it's the captains I really have a big problem with."
Ein chugged a while tankard of ale, and slammed it back down on the table - finishing the combo with a majestically loud BURRRRRP.
-"Marshall, I shall not be over-exaggerating when I tell you that this weapon here -" he patted his ranged contraption - "can blast through two walls of solid rock, if the spear tip is hard enough. After changing the spring to salvaged Thoridium and putting heaps of enchantments, glyphs, and a whole lot of other magical crap all over the case, it can fire a standard spear so fast that they won't even hear it coming. I'm serious. The thing goes faster than the sound it produces, it's rather incredible."
He signalled the barman for another drink.
-"...And yet, no matter how many times I've tried, I couldn't kill a captain. There were two times when I had the chance, and yet none of them succeeded. The first time was a while ago, about two months after Kronos killed Retan. He was one of the first captains to be put in charge, actually, and one of the most faithful servants of the Lich - the air sorcerer, Damien Roth. It was in one of their captured towns. Apparently, Roth was testing out a squad of his air elemental mages by taking over a small village. I held my breath as soon as I noticed him. It isn't every day that you see a captain crawl out of whatever dark, damp hole they like to hibernate for days in. I picked a good vantage point in a patch of forest on a mountain, lay down on the ground, and waited for an opportunity - actually, one that I myself masterminded.
"Soon, the time came. A message came to his M-Grid orb, telling him to meet Hannibal - his brother - on a thin, isolated forest road. He was to receive top-secret orders from the Sovereign himself. Surprisingly, he took the bait - hook, line, and sinker - and went to the designated meeting spot. With a light heart and a diamond-tipped bolt in my weapon, I pulled the trigger.
"Quite obviously, his entire body was nearly ripped in half. As I said, there is no way he could've heard the spear coming because of its speed. So I wait until his body stops twitching on the tree he was pinned to, and go down to retrieve my bolt. Just as I close to him, though...
"His whole body turns to dust. Just... gone. The wind, it saved him, somehow - I don't know what degree he knows air magic to, but it's enough to pretty much grant him invulnerability. That's not the creepiest part, though: just before vanishing, I could swear - I even rubbed my eyes - he looked up right at me."
He wet his throat with more ale, motioning for yet another one.
-"The other time was a big fish - why, no one other than the General herself. I somehow made it to Shuba, the unofficial capital of Kandarin. Kronos had his ride parked there at the time, and Gwen was giving some inspirational speech to her force of them soldiers... So I was all like, you know, why not. It was dusk, hell if anyone noticed me. And my eye there helped a bit, too." He pointed to his mechanical eye. "Zoom, surface penetration, night vision... Everything a sniper wants. Anyhow, I climb into a tree in the forest nearby - longest shot I've done, it was. Whole eight miles. I scan the area, find the big fish flapping her gaping mouth, waving her arms like a maniac... must've been a pretty important speech. So I take aim... another diamond head, full ice enchantment... and pull the trigger."
Another chugging.
"The damndest thing is that it happened at the very moment that I heard the click. She just... you know... moved out of the way. Just moved. Like a millionth of a second before I put the trigger to the final position, she just took a step to the side. Big deal, I thought, a coink-a-dink. Fine, fine. I wait for her to finally shut up, and she goes into the... *hic* Citadel. I've been watching her for a while, see... so I know that every day at... one, two.... eight... right about eight in the evening, she appears at the very top of the Citadel, looking at the sky. Looking? Blind? Don't ask me. I don't even know myself. Maybe she just like the winds that blow all the way up... you know... there. BARMAN! More beer, godsdamnit!"
The third tankard swiftly slided over to Ein, who immediately consumed its contents in a vibrant display of splashing, missing, swearing, and wiping.
-"So she's all, like, standing there... I load the s-shpeargun... Put them glyphs on the... the... *hic* spear... Whatever, she wasn't moving at all. Wasn't moving, I tell you. I s-s-shwear. Totally still. No co-coin- no, coindefense... coincidence. Right. No coincidence there. So I find her pretty *hic* head, looking to the sky, all sad-like... And I firesh the spear..."
With a *thump*, Ein slammed his elbow on the table, landing his chin down onto it.
-"The damn General, Marshall, the freaking General herself. I shwore I had a clear shot. There was *hic* nowhere she coulda ran, nowhere she coulda stepped... no... no people move that fasht. No normal people ever move that fast. A demon, I tell you! A witch, she is! Burn the witch!"
He half-turned his head, just enough to look up at Marshall.
-"The second the spear went off, I saw her... she blocked it. She blocked the damned thing. Faster than the speed of sound... nobody moves that fast. She blocked it with her little thin butterknife of a sword, like... she knew exactly where it was going to hit. How... I don't know... So she just *hic* makes a look like she's looking right at me, and... she... she...
"She waved her goddamn little finger at me. Bad Ein, she mouthed. Big no-no. So tell me - with a freaking blindfold, how did she see me eight miles away? Eh? Even more important, why was I *hic* fighting off freaking Stalkers and Necrolytes for the next half year? Huh? Why, godsdamnit? Why? Why didn't that shpear hit her?! WHY?!"
After calming down somewhat, he put his hand under his chin, resting it on the table, and looking directly at Marshall.
-"S-Sho... what happenshed to you while I was *hic* running wild, chasing stupid re- res- resurging... resurrecting Necrolytes?"
