Folly & Agendas & Talulah

[Chapter 57]

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How many times did Kaiser Rye miraculously survive death, cheat his fate, and still live? He survived the mightiest of blows that can turn the strongest of soldiers into dust. Under the cover of storm clouds, he pushed on; walking away from Faust after his ill-fated battle with him. Rhodes Island and Lungmen must endure longer in order for the Draco to reach Chernobog by himself.

Another step taken. Another step taken...

"How far until I reach the gates? Shit. I won't make it in time. Rhodes Island will surely catch up to me, and I don't have much of a lead. Dammit, Sasha; I'm sorry for leaving you there. Apologies still heading nowhere —Kah!"

Unbeknownst to him, and all of the combatants in the slums, Chernobog was inching closer and closer faster than before. A storm loomed above, waiting to shower the land with the respite called rain. Corpses decorated the land like stones; each one scattered over debris, under buildings, and under other corpses –their brethren.

Kaiser Rye moved forward, one foot in front of the other, one leg in front of the other. His arms were exposed: raw with veins showing through his skin. Rips in his clothes were laced all over his body. His hair was sullen gray with the excess of chalk resting there. And his eyes were foggy...

"Seen enough so far, and it hasn't an hour yet, hasn't it? Now I can barely see what's ahead."

He reached an artificial arc created by fallen buildings. Light could be seen filtering through the cracks and crevices made by the colossal structures. He skipped over a few slabs of stone and climbed on over a metal crate; the steel scraped his knees and legs, making him groan in pain. He landed on the other side –on his back. With no energy to continue, he laid there, bare, vulnerable, alone.

"Great... Sasha did me good. Heh, how many bolts did I take? Dammit. Dammit... my Arts won't let me heal –Grrr..."

From the edge of his view, he caught a glimpse of soldiers circling around him. Their uniforms were clean, cleaner than the Reunion soldiers seen before; not a speck of blood stained them. Kaiser Rye merely scoffed at the sight of new recruits. He couldn't move, so he can only watch them circle around him like starving beasts.

"What now? A bunch of Reunion soldiers? They must be new. Otherwise they would have killed me sooner. Hah, this is what the movement come down to? Damn, who am I to talk? Bullshit..."

The air around him smelled of singed hair, thick smoke, and burning tar. His back ached, countless pulses climbed his spine like a parasite inside its host. There, Kaiser Rye laid like a corpse –far beyond ripe– to decompose.

Then the smell of frost enveloped his body...

So cold, yet so warm...

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Faust stood in place, on his knees, breathing in the thick air around him, the stench of blood that bloomed in current landscape. A crossbowman entered his view, along with many others, and knelt down before him.

"Captain Faust, are you hurt?" He asked.

"No," Faust answered looking to his side for his crossbow. A bolt was locked in the chamber and it was promptly removed.

"That's good! But we saw Kaiser Rye run away from you. Should we pursue him? We can't afford to allow him to run free. You have seen how he brutally massacred the poor rascals when he came crashing down from the sky."

"Don't waste your energy to pursue him. He posed no threat to you; he couldn't get close to us with all of the projectiles we fired at him. He's alive, but he won't survive long. He barely scratched any of us, only those of us who went up close to him."

Faust picked up his crossbow and hoisted it on his back. His Phantoms stared at him and waited. The Pythia looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh. He removed his crossbow from his back and looked forward.

"Follow me. We need to regroup with Mephisto..."

"Kaiser Rye, please... Live."

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Chernobog...
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"Haley, it is truly a miracle that you're still alive. I'm grateful that you are here to witness history in the making. Now, speak freely, if you will, and tell me of your past travels. Did you, perhaps, find a new place to stay before we attacked?"

It was an arduous trek for Talulah; she had to carry a wounded Sankta by the collar –which was all but ripped. Haley's cocoa brown hair was half singed; burns lined up the side of her left cheek. Her left eye was closed; covered by a thick skin of scabs. Her right eye had a dark shade of green –she was holding on to her dear life. Even her wings and halos have dimmed to full transparency.

"Can you speak, dear Haley?" Talulah asked, releasing her grip, allowing the angel's body to fall gently to the ground.

"Ta— Ta... lu... lah..." Every word was slow; every breath was shallow. Everything was shrouded with coughs.

"Thank goodness. I feared that you would perish right before me; I don't want you to die this way. I was struck with curiosity when I saw you enter this city's safe haven."

"P– please— I."

"I do not despise you as much as you'd think. I am grateful for everything you've done for me; I am grateful that Marzanna's Auntie is still alive to tell her tale."

"Ha... ha."

"But I am still pained to see you abandoning our cause. Kaiser Rye put his faith in you; I put my faith in you. We trusted you. Until Kaiser Rye defected. Marzanna kept on crying since."

"But... but!"

"No need to push yourself, Haley; save your breaths. I need you to do something for me."

"Wha— wha?"

Talulah brushed a finger on the angel's hair: stiff, bare, singed. She lifted her head and gazed into the horizon. An orange hue loomed over in the clouds in the sky, bathing a woman moments away from a turning into a corpse, and a woman lighting a flame beneath.

"Haley, I need you to further our chances of survival. I need you to lure Kaiser Rye to us."

And behind them, far away in a shattered glass store, stood a girl clutching a ripped satchel. She was Misha, and she watched in horror as she watched the sky darken...

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(A/N): Thank you for reading this chapter!

- I'm finally back to sorting my life together, so I'll be putting in more into these chapters!

- The pacing of this story might speed up, but the Flashback stories will be slower... Still need to figure that out