Sander Sides: The Four Heroes of Old

The Escape

The four of them hurried downstairs to find the source of the commotion. 

Emerging from under the Goddess statue, they stood in shock at the scene before them.

There were over a dozen Soulless soldiers, the same spirits they encountered in Edinbourg, fighting for access to the grand altar room

Jess, George, and the other Alliance guards were in the midst of fending them off, but by the time they would cut through one line of evil spirits, more would roll in.

The group of Soulless immediately shifted their attention toward Roman, Patton, Logan and Virgil. Their eye sockets began glowing bright red as they started pushing harder through the defensive line.

Jess looked at the source of what they were after.

"George! They're back!" She called out, fighting off another soldier. 

The captain glanced back, seeing the heroes. Roman had his sword pulled out and was taking a few steps toward the defensive line.

"No! Stay where you are!" The captain demanded. "It's too dangerous!"  He used his shield to block the swing of a Soulless's sword. 

"But..." Roman stopped in his tracks, unsure of what to do.

Their attention was caught by the sound of a pained scream.

One of the spirits had shoved its blade into the stomach of a young guard at the end of the line. The man's body turned black around the blade. He choked and sputtered, blood dripping from his mouth. The darkness quickly spread throughout the rest of his body as he fell limply to the ground. The guard next to him cried out in anguish. 

With one less man guarding the line, a Soulless managed to break through the line, heading straight for the unprepared heroes.

"Shit!" Jess looked back. She wanted to help them, but she knew if she left the line, the whole defense would fall apart. She had to make sure no more got through.

The four men stood together near the statue, deathly afraid of after seeing what it just did to the young guard. 

Roman decided to take the lead, standing in front of them. He gripped his sword tightly with two hands, managing to take a few steps toward their opponent before Virgil grabbed his arm.

"Roman...don't...please..." Virgil said softly, fear rising in his eyes. 

"Well I can't stand here and let something happen to all of you..." Roman said, looking back at him. There was a brief hint of fear in his eyes as well... but he quickly covered it up with a confident smile. "What kind of prince would I be if I let that happen?"  

He gave Virgil a wink before facing his opponent once again, making Virgil reluctantly released his arm. 

He felt helpless watching Roman go...

What if he got hurt?

What if he died?

What would happen to them?

No...no no no...

Virgil's breathing picked up speed. Patton took notice and immediately gave Virgil a warm, tight hug, softly speaking to him to bring him back to reality.

Logan looked around the room before eyeing Roman with a hint of concern. He wanted to stop him, but they didn't have any other options. They had to defend themselves... and Roman was the only one with an honest weapon.

The sword-bearing hero strode up to the oncoming spirit.

Let's hope my prop training was accurate...