Blade(Part 1): Dawn

Chapter 19: Kai

Kai felt the Guardian's radiant, powerful aura fade as the dropship flew away from the mansion. It was lucky that he was even able to bring Lord Nouzari to safety with a Guardian so close to killing him. The way the Guardian looked at Kai made his heart race. She knew him, and called him her brother, but he didn't know her, and she was being completely honest. Kai tried his best to search his memory for where he had seen the girl before, but couldn't place her, anywhere. He had never met her. As much as Kai wanted to think about it more, he heard Lord Nouzari's constant complaining about his event being ruined.

"What the hell were you thinking, boy?" Nouzari snapped. Kai hated being called "boy". Just hearing the word directed towards him made him want to kill whoever said it.

"Call me that one more time, my lord, and I will finish what that Guardian started," Kai warned.

"How could you possibly know that whoever was there was a Guardian?" Lord Nouzari demanded.

"My lord, the Shadows of the Abyss have powers that you couldn't possibly begin to understand," Kai snapped. "Now, if you could stop your complaining, it would be greatly appreciated, so shut your mouth. I don't have to answer anything you ask." He began to sense a feeling of anger from Lord Nouzari. The Lord of Astros rose from his seat to stare Kai down, but the Shadow gave him a stare that turned his rage to dread. Kai's eyes turned red at his own anger, and Nouzari sat back down on the seat of the dropship.

"That's what I thought," Kai spat. He simply couldn't understand Nouzari's narcissism. The Shadows of the Abyss were above him, but below the King, and he saw himself as bolder than Kai. He wasn't. Lord Nouzari was a coward. He executed the Captain and Lieutenant of Fireteam Ocelot because he was afraid of them, nothing more.

"You know, this might not have happened had you not executed those two Guardians six months ago," said Kai.

"A statement needed to be made,"  Nouzari reminded. "Hopes of rebellion needed to be crushed."

"Allow me to tell you a story, sir," Kai groaned. "Eighty years ago, there was a King in Aetherian who was thinking the exact same thing you thought six months ago. He thought that by executing a Guardian, he would make clear to his people that if they rose up against him, they would lose that fight. Do you know what happened to him? He died, my lord! He was killed because he was a vicious, idiotic, arrogant bastard, who knew not the first thing about warfare! Do you understand, sir!? Instead of preventing rebellion, you may very well have incited it! You'll start a war, just as Vorian Busch did!"

"Don't compare me to a child with a crown on his head, Shadow," Nouzari spat.

"I'm not," Kai corrected. "I'm comparing you to someone who's less than that." Lord Nouzari hung his head in shame. Kai's message was clear. Nouzari is a coward. The aircraft landed on a small pad outside of a small town called "Savona". In front of the largest house was an encampment of what used to be a hundred Skaolan soldiers. Over the last month, it became filled with thousands. There was a mile of fields between the mansion at the top of the hill and the town itself. The encampment of Skaolan soldiers spanned every inch. They were prepared to march north, to Acran, under Lord Nouzari's orders. Nouzari was the first to climb off of the dropship that took them to Savona, where General Darius greeted him.

"My lord," he addressed, bowing his head. "Kai." When Kai himself came out of the vehicle, he began to sense a familiar aura from the large house. It was powerful, and radiant. Another Guardian. Strange that he was still alive with the thousands of Skaolans camped outside of his house.

"Kai," a familiar voice called. It was his friend and fellow Shadow, Xerxei.

"Xerxei," Kai greeted, patting his friend on the shoulder. "I thought you were in Thebas."