Chapter 2- THE SANCTUARY

“The light in his eyes might betray him , his soul is no longer free , for all of his life , he has been a warrior , trying to protect others ,save them , comfort them and yet his tale is unknown , people who he laughed with , enjoyed life with, helped others with, stabbed him and yet he smiled on his deathbed without any regrets , his resolve never changed, he was a kind man till his last breath” Zerich's memories keep on haunting him , reaching out for his axe which was kept along the bed he just woke up on ,he yawned “its been long , I’m too tired for all of it “ he said in a teasing way to the guy who was standing next to his door ,

Dressed as an assassin was none other than Raik , he reached out for his shoulder and gently spoke in his ears “don’t overdo it”, Raik looked at him with shine in his eyes and replied back “ you don’t have to worry about me , I know when to control myself” , he said with a bit of hesitation in his tone , Zerich looked at him ,he saw a guy who was ready to sacrifice his own life for his resolve, letting a sigh out he looked towards Raik and smiled, “ I know, I know but don’t get too excited , I want to see you in one piece after the battle do you understand me brat “

Raik was at ease after listening to his words , but at the same time annoyed ,he looked at Zerich, “Brat , I’m not a brat you know I’m perfectly capable of making rational decisions, you brute”,

“Hahaha , I was just teasing you, don’t be annoyed ,save this attitude for the guests we are waiting for” , he pushed his hand on his shoulder giving a tap and left him alone in the room.

“I’ll go Check on Sarah and people downstairs, man I’m so hungry , I need meat “ he said in a carefree manner but there was something uneasy about his body language, Raik looked at him and stood in awe for a moment

“Why ? Why? He have to pretend play around us” Raik mumbled in a frustrating manner.

“One day for sure I’ll confront him and ask him what’s the thing that keeps bothering him even after all these years does he not trust us to share his ordeals with us “ he was frustrated ,he lift up his arm and punched the nearby wall, he kept punching the wall like it was his punching bag,,,”ughhhhhhhh ,I promise one day I’ll punch him down and ask what is the thing he is so afraid to share with us, that big oaf” , he sighed and went downstairs .

A group of savages sitting around the dining room (of the house captured by TAIMS ) breaking bones of the pig which was slaughtered and we’ll cooked by a beautiful young lady , using knife to carve that meat was none other than Sarah, she was one of the six strong warriors in Zerich’s squad , her speciality was the fire magic as she was native to 'RADEN' , she was not only a skilled warrior but good at household chores too , besides her was another special warrior wearing a black vest , black trouser , a torn glove on his right hand was none other than the devilishly handsome Klaus , he was the native of 'AIDEN' and hence he was specialised in Lighting magic , he was quite skilled with long range attacks , personality wise he was a loner nobody knows why he joined TAIMS apart from Zerich ,along them were their crewmates Marshall and Lisbeth they were comparatively new members but nothing about their skills was novice they were skilled at hand to hand combat as well as both of them were skilled tacticians apart from that their magic abilities were unknown but they were hired by the higher ups to assist Zerich’s team anyone looking at them could easily point out they were siblings , all of them were enjoying the feast after capturing the sanctuary in Ruhan ,( sanctuaries were the holy land which were considered the source of mana of that particular area it not only provides constant flow of magical energy which was the crucial for almost all the mages but were the source of the magical mines which consists of stones forged with magic which were widely used in combats and wars , to create weaponry and artillery , the land captured by Zerich and company was the holy land of lighting magic , it was one of the checkpoints that were meant to protected by the leader of that area, it was part of the big plan rolled down by the higher ups at TAIMS.) A loud voice came straight from the basement

“let me go you vile creature“ said the guy tied with his hands down ,his right leg was covered with a bandage that was covering the deep wound he got recently, he kept on struggling to open his hands that were tied down with a special rope that has forged engravings on it which prevents the user to use minor spells ,but the man kept on trying to cut that rope down , nothing seemed to work , besides him was a dark figure of a guy with his arms covered in numerous scars standing in that very room looking at the guy struggle he couldn’t control his laughter ,

“Hehehehe hahehe , poor soul ,you seem to be in pain” he said in a soft yet sarcastic tone , gazing at him with utter hatred in his eyes he let out a big laugh,

“Hehehehehehehehe”

“Oh poor soul , doesn’t your magic helps now ,,,,,oh wait it doesn’t ,who is helpless now huhh “ he screamed in a frustrating manner yet there was glimmer of satisfaction in his eyes ,he enjoyed that moment ,he wanted to make that man suffer more , suddenly that guy started talking,

“You’ve no idea, you’re messing with the wrong people ,wait till the reinforcements arrive all of you Rugrats would run to the hole you came out from ,you filthy bastards” , he said while struggling to get out of the rope that has held his hands and his magic in bounds,

“I see, your kind will never change” , said the mysterious man standing next to him, he continued watching him struggle , it was like a moment of euphoria for him ,to see a priest struggle , he kept his right hand on his head pulled his hair up and whispered in his ear,

“Make all the efforts you want , this here is the end of your tyrant rule over this area”, it was like a cold breeze that sent chills down the body of priest, he looked at him in the eyes, all he saw was hatred, he was about to punch the priest suddenly an arm around his shoulder rested , along with the heavy voice was their leader Zerich, he pulled that guy back and looked at him ,

“It’s enough Vince , don’t loose your calm “, hearing these words were more than enough to stop this cold figure, who was one of the six warrior that were part of Zerich’s squad , Vince looked at the priest once again giving a terrifying look , priest was induced with fear he suddenly went calm with his struggle,

“Okay, okay it’s not like I’m going to kill him ,I was just fooling around,heheheheheheheheh”

His tone changed as he exchanged glances with Zerich , he looked more calm now as he pulled his hand away from the priest , dusted his hands off ,

“It was a pain to catch him alive…………., Oh wait……”,

(A DAY BEFORE)

“BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!”, an explosion hit the main gate outside the sanctuary killing the main guards that were guarding the front door , there was blood everywhere, as soon as the mages inside the sanctuary heard the explosion they were shocked by the shear force of the explosive sounds, one of the main mage Mr. Pane instructed the mages to take cover ,

“All of you listen , don’t panic ,May go inform Mr. Schole , rest of you come with me “ he said in a commanding voice leading a group of 5 mages with him , as soon as they reached the main door they hear another explosion , cloud of smoke appears everywhere , it was not clear what was going on , suddenly a mysterious person emerged from the cloud of dust running towards the main gate ,

there was a rumbling going on at the same time outside the sanctuary , nearby area were lit up on fire , houses , shops , everything in Ruhan at that point was on fire ,sheer amount of destruction was caused by none other than the rebellious group led by Zerich , screams of people burning alive let it be children or women all of them experienced gruesome end , cries of people suffering were clearly audible, those who were able to escape the fire ran to save their life ,a group of few people were able to escape the village, otherwise most of them were likely killed at that very moment , cause these were no ordinary flames that could be easily put out by using spells or water , it was the special flame laid by Zerich himself,

“Ahhhhhhh” cried the mage who stepped forward the mysterious man , named Vince who was instructed by Zerich to capture the main priest alive , he ran towards the mages that were outside the sanctuary , using his swift movements he sliced the mages one by one with the help of a special dagger that that was forged with wind magic stones , it was just another magic tool he had on him ,but the way handheld that dagger was praiseworthy ,no wasted movements whatsoever , clean kills , even though the mages tried using the spells on him it didn’t seem to affect him whatsoever, he looked at the mage and laughed hysterically ,

“ Hahahahahahaha ……….. “

He took a moment to see all the corpses he have left on his trail towards the main gate ,

“What a joke, these are the people who are meant to safeguard this place, they gotta be the weakest bunch of mages I’ve battled “ he said in a disappointing voice ,

“Oh now I see why we were told to take on Ruhan , pathetic”

He killed 10-15 mages that were just outside the sanctuary on a whim without any trouble, he heard footsteps of another group that was coming towards the gate , he chose to stand on the gate to wait for them to arrive full well knowing that there could be a stronger mage ,

The group led by Pane pushed the main gate to look outside, all of them were shocked to see such a sight, dead bodies everywhere , houses on fire as if they’ve just witnessed hell , in front of them stood a guy with a dagger in his right hand , just by looking at him all of them were intimidated, Pane came forward ,

“Who are you? , Why are you people doing this? , He asked in a frightened way , as he was also intimidated by the scene beforehand, he gave signals to the mages behind him ,

“Prepare for the assault spell, meanwhile I’ll distract him” listening to this Vince , nodded his head in approval,

“Yes ,yes that could work but………………” he swiftly moved towards Pane in attempt to finish him in a blow , but Pane was able to dodge it but the attack grazed his right cheek , he was impressed to see the agility of the intruder who was trying to end him ,he then lifted his right arm , started concentrating all the mana nearby him and unleashed lighting bolts towards the intruder,

“Lighting spears that shall tear apart your flesh , NEUS DESH” he screamed as he unleashed his lethal attack , but it was no good ,either it’s had missed the target or it didn’t had any effect on Vince's body , he was astonished ,”how , ,,,,what ,I can’t believe it, it’s not possible , no damage, who are you??” he said in a frightened manner, but he continued using that spell,

“Ouchhhhh!!! , You know that kind of stings , but is that the best you can do?“, asked the intruder as he continued to avoid his attacks , he took his dagger out and threw it towards Pane , but he was able to dodge the strike then suddenly he grasped at the shining thread that was attached to dagger he realised that the dagger was being controlled as a long range weapon, Vince pulled the string towards his head , Pane was able to dodge it in split seconds , looking at him Vince gave him an applaud ,

“Very good , but I’m on tight schedule here “ he said in a casual manner as if the fight was nothing to him like he was purposely toying with Pane , he than manipulated strings to bring the dagger back and strike in the heart of pane , as he too came close so swiftly , after seeing such agility Pane was shocked and in state of utter pain , he coughed out blood out as he saw Vince ran past him after he stabbed him in the heart , after witnessing the downfall of their leader the mages were interrupted and couldn’t execute the spells , Vince ran past them after slicing each of their throats ,

“I’m in rush , but may God bless your souls”, after killing all the mages on the front gate he entered the sanctuary , as he glanced the pathways , another guy came and stood next to him , covered in his red hood ,

“Raik!!!!!!!”, Vince was surprised ,

“How many times I’ve told you not to do it ,it freaks me out man” he said after catching his breath and let a sigh out ,

“There’s someone here “, Raik sensed someone’s presence in the room next to hallway,

“Of course there are you idiot , remember priest is still alive” said Vince while looking towards the room door ,

“No , I mean there’s another group of mages “ ,said Raik as he was able to detect the number of people in a particular area , it was one of his special trait, listing to his comments Vince looked back at the front door and than looked towards the other room ,he pointed his index finger towards it ,

“I’ll go there , you take care of them”, he instructed Raik ,as he had already analysed the nearby room only place where priest could have been was the room that led downwards more like a basement, he made the move and went downstairs,

“Let’s see who’s here” , said Raik after he prepared to enter the room , as he entered the room , there was an explosion,

“BADDDHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”, a total of 5 mages along with May ,who after reporting the incident to the priest ,was instructed to create a rouse in the room upstairs to deceive the enemy, after the explosion there was fire around the door and smoke screen , all of them tried to look for the intruder to find out the result of their plan ,

“Is he dead?” asked the mage standing far away from the door,

May continued on searching but she couldn’t find a bit , as if they’ve been deceived , but the look on her face said it all as she saw someone getting thrown away in the blast , she continued to look in the smoke screen suddenly a sharp object came piercing the limb of a mage near the door , “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”, May was sure that the person was alive ,” we might have mistimed the explosive”, she said after seeing one of her comrade getting butchers by the weapon that seemed like a dagger but was not clear due to all the smoke she than released her magical attack towards the shadow from where the dagger has came, “Ahhhh”, said the mysterious figure of the person who held the dagger was hit with the spell , his body began bleeding , without wasting a moment May ran towards the guy and stabbed him with her sword , “Die , intruder” she said after slicing the man's body into half, killing that mysterious figure ,

“One is down , I’ll go help the priest now”, she said after she killed that guy , she looked around for others who were in the room , but she was shocked , piles of dead body stacked on one another , she was shocked as she took down the guy than who could’ve killed them , nothing made sense, suddenly she started running out of breath, “Uhhhh ,high huhhh huhhhh ,what is happening to my bod…….huhhhhhh uhhhhhhhh” she couldn’t breath properly , she looked at her stomach it was ripped apart, “Ahhhhhhhhh, my body , it hurts”, the dagger she saw was now visible, stuck in her gut , she turned back ,”who did thi…….”she saw the dead man come to live, “how , why are you still alive????”she was shocked ,

“Alive , I was never dead to begin with” said the guy as he pulled his knife out of her gut,

“Coughhh ,ahhhhhh, no it’s impossible , I’m….,I’m sure I killed you , how can someone come back from dead ???”, she mumbled while lying on the floor, covered in blood, Raik looks at her with astonishment as she was still alive after that hit,

“Impressive , I’ll let you in on a secret”, he begin speaking as he started moving her body out of the way ,

“Well you see , the moment you exploded the front door , not going to lie you caught me off guard but , I was able to escape any severe injuries, only thing that got hurt was my left leg while avoiding the attack”, he kept on speaking meanwhile May was taking her last breath, he then further added,

“And about my death , see that was all in your head “, as she heard it her eyes were wide open ,”the smoke screen after the explosion was no ordinary smoke , it was my magic that held smoke together and while I was at it ,I added some special spell that let the victims hallucinate , as far as you go ,you have been just standing upright from the moment you inhaled that air and ,only thing I did was, stab you and that’s all”, she was in a state of shock ,”in my head…..”, she forced those words out of her mouth,

“Yes in your head , now just be a good girl and give up cause there’s no way you could recover from that blow”,

as he left all the dead bodies out of his way , he looked at her ,she continued to bleed out , it was only matter of time before she was dead, after hearing all of it she tried as hard as to maintain her breathing before her life was about to end ,Raik left the room to look for Vince , he headed towards the basement,

as he approached the basement, he could hear the sound as Vince exchanged the blows with the priest,

“Take this you vile creature, NEUS DESH”, a stream of lighting went across the room , Vince was able to dodge all of his attacks,

“That’s all you got old man”, he said while avoiding the attacks with a sense of derision, He than threw his dagger towards the priest , continued to manipulate it with his strings to get as close he could without killing the priest otherwise the battle would have already ended if he went all out ,

“Who are you ?, you’ve stepped on the wrong territory wait till the reinforcements arrive, all of you would be dead”,

He said as he continued to attack Vince with the same spell, Vince looked at him and started laughing,

“Reinforcements , hahahahahahaha”, he stopped attacking priest and continued mocking him,

“It’s so sad to say but all of your buddies are most likely dead by now , so it would be better if you just surrender yourself”, he asked him in a casual tone ,

“Dead, no way don’t tell me you guys are from TAIMS”, he asked while he was frightened to hear about his fellow mages ,

“BINGO!!!!”,said Vince ,”now let’s finish it”, he threw multiple daggers this time all with different kind of magical stone forged in them ,wind, fire, and 2 special ones ,all were aimed for different body parts of the priest , Schole was able to dodge the first 2 but got trapped with the last 2 daggers one got struck in his clothes pinning him with the wall while the other was stuck in his right leg , his leg continued to bleed after the strike , he was awestruck after seeing such an attack ,he has never seen such use of daggers and they were not even using the magic that was embedded in them , he was about to faint as hear another voice of guy covered in a red hood enter the room,

“Wait, Vince ,you didn’t kill him right ????”, Raik asked with a hint of concern in his voice,

“Don’t worry, he’s alive ,let’s just tie him up here”,

(Present day)

“It wasn’t hard to capture him…..but keeping him alive,,ahhhhhhhhhh, I’m gonna go upstairs you take care of him “ , said Vince as he left the basement ,

Zerich’s looked at the priest , he saw the guy trying to escape the clutches of death that was in front of him, he looked at his right leg ,

“You must be in a lot of pain , I’ll let you live and even treat your injuries”, he said while showing sympathy towards the priest,

Schole's eyes were wide open as he saw a glimmer of hope in the eyes of person standing next to him, but he froze as heard the next words that came out of Zerich’s mouth ,

“Yes I’ll let you live, only if you tell me how to 'really get inside the sanctuary',”.