A Twisted Truth

 She landed outside the doors, which were broken on the ground and a massive crater was in the ground. ‘What the hell happened here?!’ she thought as she panicked, but quickly calmed down seeing them all inside.

Sophia: “Iki! What happened here?”

Iki: “Oh, Sophia. How’d everything go on your end? I assume not good considering Lorenzo’s forces are marching here.”

Sophia: “Wh-What happened to me? What happened to this place? Did you get mad about something?”

Iki: “We’ll talk about it later. We are prepping for Lorenzo’s forces. Your sister Peony left. Not sure where she went. Might want to go find her.”

Sophia: “Don’t give me that crap Iki! I’m not like your little servants here. You’re going to tell me what happened here now!”

Iki: “And what good would that do you?! You want me to tell you! Fine! We got attacked and lost! We lost! Understand?! Are you happy?! Now get out of here so I can do my freaking job!”

Sophia: “Yo-You lost? The four of you l-lost? That’s not possible.”

Iki: “Yeah, we did…sort of. Now leave or help. Your choice.”

Sophia couldn’t comprehend that they lost, but Iki said, “Sort of,” which made her completely confused. They were impenetrable forces that ruled over a lot of areas. They didn’t die, so Sophia knew that they didn’t lose, but for some reason, Iki’s words just didn’t make sense. Sophia always knew that Iki had a temper, so she assumed that Iki was just frustrated at the moment.

Natsuki: “Sophia, please. The young master is stressed out right now. Tell us what happened over there so we know what to expect.”

Sophia: “O-Okay. I didn’t get to talk to Lorenzo. He wouldn’t have listened anyways. He is stubborn and his forces are heading here. They will arrive in less than a week. They use these weapons called Links that are strong supposedly, but also not. They are made from mana with special abilities that mimic sword powers. Although, with you four, you will obliterate their forces. Lorenzo probably knows this, but he is coming anyway. He is hiding something, but I don't know what it is. Iki, if you kill off all of his men, then rumors will spread. It’s a lose-lose either way. You have to come up with a plan.”

Iki: “That’s what we are doing right now. I can’t lose the trust of my people and I can’t take in the thousands of people that he has. People will expect me to. I have to talk with Lorenzo or else I’m going to have to kill them all. It’s the only option we have, but if we flee and hide for a while, they will take over and cause havoc. I’m limited in what I can do. Lorenzo has me in a checkmate and my own people are going to starve while his forces come here. The Association is taking a hit right now, but I can explain to my people later what the situation was. After all, I have a way with words.”

Yahiko: “Young master, if I may, I do not believe that our people will disown us for protecting our land from invaders.”

Iki: “That’s not the issue, but it’s the rumors that follow to the surrounding lands that are false. If people learn that we killed thousands of people, then other communities will think we did it to take over other areas and that they are next. The witches might even violate the pact, which is when we really are in trouble. If hundreds of witches come here, then we would need some help. Even we can’t defend witches using hundreds of chaplet abilities at once against us. My barriers wouldn’t hold.”

Yahiko: “I see. I understand. Forgive me for not foreseeing this, but what other choice do we have.”

Wally: “It’s me that they want. If they kill me then they will be happy.”

Iki: “Shut it, Wally. You’re not dying, you bonehead. Our only option is to kill them. Spare Lorenzo if you can. I want to have a nice long talk with him afterwards. Tell everyone to spread different rumors of the truth. Tell them that Yahiko defeated the army alone by himself. It will show the strength of The Association while limiting false rumors that we were involved. If anything, everything gets pinned on Yahiko who can defend himself. Oh, and get someone to fix the front. When I get my hands on Yasuhiro, I’m gonna kill him.”

They all left to prepare for the war.

The time was approaching.

They had to limit false rumors as much as possible and prevent whatever Lorenzo was planning. They did not know what was in store for them, but a win was certainly inevitable for Iki and his group.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Welpen: “Woah! Slow down, slow down, slow down! We’re going to crash!”

They came to a sudden halt via the shard on the sword, showing up at Moonshadow Village that would’ve taken them another week without the help of his sword.

Strange creatures that looked like blobs surrounded them and jumped around them. They were made of a jelly-like structure with black eyes that looked like they were closed at all times.

Welpen: “Hahah! They tickle! Stop it, hahahah!”

Saikou picked one up and snuggled with it while Ryoko laughed as hard as Welpen, looking and feeling them.

The village in front of them was huge.

The front was a beautiful long garden walking into a circle of churches. Different styled churches bunched up side by side, creating one large campus of buildings. Kids classes were being taught and priests were assisting people with swords and mana. Everyone seemed happy in Welpen’s eyes, especially the creatures that jumped up and down.

3 people came outside to greet them.

A woman that looked much like a man with long black hair that curled with strands of hair down her outfit dressed in a black vestment with a cross necklace, holding a book.

Another man stood there with light blue hair, wearing a similar color shirt and pants. His necklace looked something like the sun in Welpen’s eyes and other medallions dressed the half hoodie that he wore over the shirt. His tattoos on his arms were cool that went well with the watch on his left wrist, but his one red eye and one blue eye intimidated him.

Finally, a blonde haired man with blue eyes looked stunning in the light. He wore a white priest vestment with golden crosses across his uniform. His necklace also hung down with the same symbol and white wings shot out of his back.

They greeted them accordingly with open arms, especially the man up front with blonde hair.

“Hello! My name is Azelth Renkal. This lady here is Tairen Zarreku and the other man here is Rynjuro Yurkei. Welcome to Moonshadow Village!”

Welpen: “Woah! Hi, hi! My name is Welpen. This here is Ryoko and Saikou and these red orbs right here are Ezra. It’s kind of a complicated story, but that is her name.”

Azelth: “Wonderful! The Jellis seem to like you all. They get very excited to see new visitors. What brings you all here?”

Welpen: “We came from The Land. We don’t really know what this place is, but this shard on my sword kind of just took us here.”

Azelth: “I see. Can I look at your sword?”

Azelth admired it closely and looked back at Welpen and his group. “What a great sword!” he said. He was very excited to see all of them too. He ushered them over to the churches that stretched wide and high in the sky. Even though the village was not overly large, the connected churches were so big that it could house so many people.

They followed them to the left inside the doors of the church on the farthest left. They all were the same color, but different in design. The beige color highlighted the details and on the inside of the first church, stairs lined the sides of the walls going upstairs, but the bottom floor looked like a typical church with benches all across the floor and an altar on the other end.

Azelth: “Please sit. Pick anywhere you would like. We must pray for you all. In the name of the Devil, may you protect these young boys and guide them through a beautiful life here and so on in the afterlife. Amen.”

Ezra: “The Devil? Do not pray to the Devil for these boys. Are you insane?”

Azelth: “But why not?”

Ezra: “I am the Ruler of the Spirit Realm. Do not bring bad luck to these boys. I will take them when it is their time.”

Azelth: “Ezra, correct? Yes, we know of you. What a pleasure it is, but I’m afraid you misunderstood. The prophecies state that the Devil is superior amongst the 5 realms. We have heard of you Ezra, Ruler of the Spirit Realm, but we do not worship you. The scripts say that your interference in this world is a hindrance to all, but we gladly still invite you to stay, but we do now worship you.”

Ezra: “Huh? Hindrance? Are you insane? You people pray for a being of mass destruction to engulf this world?”

Azelth: “My dear Ezra, you still do not understand. The realms are not allowed to have contact with each other, so I do not blame you. The Devil welcomes all and brings peace. It is God, The Leech, and Veymaru that wish harm upon others. As for you, I have heard that you are equal to all as well, so we thank you for that, but the Devil is almighty and has been trapped by the other realms. He is…stuck.”

Ezra: “You’re insane.”

A voice called out that came down from the stairs, having a face that Welpen did in fact see not too long ago.

???: “No. He’s right.”

Ezra: “Who are you?”