Fractures: Rewritten Chapters

*New character has joined the chat*

First written on March 22nd, 2021

Time: Shortly after Cold As Ice The Remake

Point of View: Patrick

I look towards the other side of the corridor, where a group of five are standing and talking. They are the group that just came into Dreadfort the day before. The group includes Elite, with his Venomstrike on his back, standing off to the side, one of the new bandits whose name is Mattew, two of Daryll's old members, and the last one, with his back to me, must be Kai. Daryll mentioned in his note that he has picked a successor who goes by the name of Kai, and he might just be humanity's most valuable asset. Daryll trusted me with this information, and I, as the Grandmaster and his friend, respect his decision. To be honest though, I don't see him as a fighter at all. Look at him, he's joking around with all the other members, not being serious at all. We are in a war for god sakes, can he at least take it seriously?!

"I am starting to think that Daryll was drunk when he made that decision." Hilda's gruff remark interrupted my thoughts. 

I sighed. "I know right? He doesn't seem like a candidate at all. But we both knew that Daryll doesn't pick idiots to be his next-in-line, so he definitely picked this guy for a reason." 

Hilda rubbed her face and hissed. "What was the reason then? I can't see it!" 

"Let's give him more time, we haven't even known him for 24 hours. It's a bit too early to land a conclusion right now." 

"Ugh, let's hope it's soon. I can't stand his stupid face. Anyway, see you at the meeting." I watched Hilda stomp away down the hall. She's upset, and who can blame her? Two of her close friends died in one day and the other is bedridden for the next three weeks. We need people to take up the leadership spots that are left empty, I sure hope this guy is up to the challenge.

---2 hours later, the conference room---

The room looks painfully empty without the presence of Daryll, Dexter and Azura, and I can't help but worry about the future of humanity. How are we going to pull this off with such a small army? No thanks to you, stupid. I kicked myself. The Battle of the Far Plains was a straight up failure on my end, resulting in the death of two subfaction leaders, a third of the ground troops and almost the entire elytra corps. Whatever we do next is tied to the survival of human kind.

I took up my usual spot behind the map table, facing the door. I watched Hilda enter, followed by Kai and Elite. I allowed Elite to join because he at least has some experience in leadership. He also seems to be close to Kai as well, so his time of serving in Frostbourne's ranks should make it less awkward to explain it to Kai. I don't feel like preaching today so this is great.

Kai is slightly shorter than me, with unruly dirty blond hair, and blue eyes. A scar marks his right eyebrow. He wears a battered set of standard iron amour with no enchantments. However, it's his weapon that caught my attention. He has a single glaive that has a much wider blade and a much thicker handle than my naginatas. I silently wondered how much that thing weighs and how efficiently he can wield it.

I lock eyes with him. "Are you aware of the fact that you are the new leader of the bandits?"

He acknowledged gravely. "I was told when we arrived." There's a hint of pain in his eyes. I guess he cared more about Daryll than I initially thought.

"Okay then, let's begin."

After a round of awkward introductions, we get right down to planning.

"We have to hold them back somehow." I said, pointing to the map. "They have now taken control of the Far Plains. It's only a matter of time before they march straight to our castle doors."

"Our numbers have reduced tremendously due to the recent battle. We can not afford to face the entire Horde head on like we did in the last battle, sire." Hilda reminded me.

I sigh inside my head. Why was I so stupid?

Elite gave us his ideas. "Sire. May I suggest me and a few scouts to go cut off their supply lines?"

Hilda shook her head. "Too dangerous. Besides, they can just make more portals to transport the goods."

We all fell silent. I noticed that Kai hasn't spoke a word since the meeting began. So I asked for his thoughts on the matter. He stared at the map for a few more seconds, then spoke. The grave tone in his voice caught me off guard. He sounds like a completely different person.

"My suggestion is to hold our line right here." he tapped the map. We peered at where he's pointing.

I raised my eyebrow. "The Mountain Pass?"

Kai nodded. "This is the fastest way to move from the Far Plains to the Dreadfort without a massive detour. It's the only way through. We can buff our defense there and utilize the terrain to our advantage against their ground troops. We took that path on our way back and scouted out the area. It has ledges to house archers and the path is wide and long enough for an army."

"What about the ghasts? We are particularly lacking in the Aerial department." I had to cut him short. The thoughts of the archers being open to fireball attacks are not exactly comforting.

"I don't expect them to be as powerful as they are in the Far Plains. To get here they will have to go through a snowy tundra and the cold would slow down the blazes and ghasts. Besides, they are going to have a hard time traversing through the mountains due to the terrain. Unless the Nether King conveniently knows how to make lava out of nothing." Kai shrugged at the end of his speech.

This already sounds so much better than my own plans. I thought.

"Naeus has shown to be able to utilize both fire and lightning." Hilda pointed out.

"Well, he can't keep a giant army warm with his tiny fire. And there's definitely not enough trees there for him to set on fire in order to keep them warm."

I shared a glance with Hilda. He has a good point. I gotta give it to him, I'm genuinely impressed.

"Alright then, let's send out a few scouts to keep an eye on the Horde while we prepare for a battle at the Mountain Pass." I announced, ending the meeting.

Kai nodded and started to leave. "Okay, well... I guess I will stick around. See you soon, sire." He let Elite go through before quietly shutting the door.

I paused. Something about the way he worded that sentence sounds familiar. I searched my memory trying to find out where I've heard it. And then it hit me. The Dragon Tamer. He said the exact same sentence in the same tone before he left with Stella.

Now come to think about it, this guy resembles Rain in many ways. His choice of words, his postures when he talks, his tone when he's serious, all gives off the same vibe as Rain. Could they be related in someway? I wondered.

Author's Notes (03/22/2021):
"Could they be related?" Oh Patrick they are very much related you just don't know yet-

Author's Notes (03/27/2023):
Just publishing some old dusty stuff to clear the backlog a bit, I originally planned to rewrite them so they are accurate to AU lore. But now, even the ones I've published already aren't AU lore accurate either so whatever-