24: Falling Embers
#34 of Among Stars
Part of: Among Stars (Prequel to 'The Golden Month')
The story of how a crew of misfits shattered the dominance of the Empire's tyranny.
Their victories, their losses, and their ultimate fate. An odyssey across the endless frontier that is space!
Las Lindas Web Comic Spin-Off, OC-Insert
The characters in this story (Except the OC-Insert) are © chalodillo
Chapter 24: Falling Embers
Beta-Reader: Ant0nius
Warning: A bit of graphic violence.
Ambar knew something was about to happen here in Sandir.
Not only had some of the trackers their people on Earth caught some curious 'movement' unfolding in outer space, but she could also tell that this small detachment of the Empire was running some desperate tactic from the way they picked Sandir out of all possible settlements to strike. It was the best defended, and also the 'heart' of the industrial reconstruction. Where all military and civilian equipment was being produced and brought to all Prism settlements all over the world. She had relocated to the settlement the day before, asking the chieftain to prepare the city's defenses for an assault while also alerting the Queen to send reinforcements to repel the incoming attackers. She was relieved when she got those early that morning, with two of her 'sisters' joining the fight with a considerable number of warriors to fill up the ranks by the great wall.
Carmesi was the one that was essential in the immediate fight due to the discipline she imposed with her modest harshness, which was much needed in case her prediction was correct and the Empire was going to try and strike them with their best shot at the moment. Her literal firepower was going to add another edge to their defense, thus limiting the advance of the attackers. Meanwhile, Grace was not that far from the Fire Crest in terms of importance due to something that made her a unique and powerful addition to an army fighting for good. The Gazelle Prime's soothing voice and personality added another layer of morale that the troops needed for first contact and beyond, plus, her confidence and display of personal strength reinforced the notion she was no propaganda poster that couldn't stand her ground against invaders.
The Great Wall of Sandir was considered one of the strongest pieces of construction of the post-Prism era. It wasn't the best, but it did its job well when it came to normal armies trying to expel them from this location. Sadly, the wall itself wasn't Crest-proof, especially when said Crest was known for its immense strength. Ambar could only grimly stare at the debris flying from the fortification as a single punch obliterated a good part of it. She felt relieved that she had ordered all soldiers within the fortification out before the attack landed, but the Wisdom Crest was quite annoyed by the mere notion that all those warnings about the Empire's cruelty were so damn right. The debris were actually soaring and looking ready to land on the city and on some unaware civilians. That, in her mind, couldn't do.
A single intake of air, her mind grew quiet as her magic entered in action. All the flying stones stopped before being gently lowered to the ground. She had mastered the limits of her might ages ago, so this all felt particularly easy to manage. The power of one's mind was never limited to their selves, but to their surroundings. It was all mind power, the capacity to alter small aspects of reality at whim, but within the limits of her own 'mortality' and soul. Soon she was floating herself off from her perch, descending to a position right in front of the army's spearhead. She finally got a proper look of the enemy, the pure hatred in their eyes and... she sighed at their deplorable desire. So long- it's been so many centuries since she felt true anger towards someone. Ambar was taught self-discipline and understanding others for the sake of self-betterment and peace. But... there was nothing to understand from those that abandoned themselves to pure despair.
She was usually calm, and she thought she could keep her cool early on with this battle, but the Queen proved to be right once again much to her relief, confirming that this was the monarch they needed now more than ever: the Empire was willing to burn and destroy even against harsh odds on themselves. It was the proof of the Emperor's willpower on his own troops and... the Bear Prime wasn't willing to let any of that unfold in Sandir. Not when she had the upper hand and the highest moral duty to see the assault force driven out and, if possible, mostly destroyed. It was only that kind of brutality that would spare them trouble in the near future. They needed all the time possible to prepare for the bigger skirmishes. Despite the fact she was meant to face another Crest, she knew she was advantaged by the awkward setting Minos was put in. With so many men of his working close to the battlefield, he wasn't going to rely on the stronger aspects of his magic at the idea of killing some of his own troops in the friendly fire. Meanwhile, the Wisdom Crest had precision, finesse- she wasn't limited by anything in this scenario.
"The Great War of Sandir can't be destroyed so easily, Earth. It has protected this precious city for generations now," Ambar announced as she looked at the frustrated Bull Prime standing in front of her. "And I can't allow now such a destructive force to put an end to this tradition of hope. I'm glad you're finally here, _slave_of the Empire. I have been expecting you."
A well-hidden shiver went down Minos' spine, but the Bear Prime caught it effortlessly. She could feel it, from deep within his mind, that he had doubts now as the garrison finally mustered to block the approaching assault force behind him. Still, she had to give credit where it was due as the high officer kept a solid outward composure despite how his current mood was... lacking. He wasn't focused enough, far from it. He was going to mess things up for himself and his own troop. He saw a target, her, and he was going to focus only on her. A tremendous mistake as, within the realm of brain and brawn, Ambar won in both categories by a fair margin. And that was something that was going to heavily play to her advantage as soon as the fight started.
A body to house a mind, a powerful temple to host a mighty soul.
"I see... you must be one of those Crests that was 'born' on this planet. It was foolish of yourself to show now. You can't win here."
"Can't I? Can't we?" The Wisdom Crest argued jovially, yet her glowing eyes betrayed none of the true strength funneling within her body as she readied her lance. "You and I are more similar than you can imagine. And strength alone can't win you this battle, Minos."
The officer remained quiet, allowing for the rest of the troops to be in position, while Ambar perceived her 'sisters' ready to fight. The redhead saw the Earth Crest bitterly grit his teeth when he spotted Grace and the Bear Prime recalled from a conversation with the Grand Knight that Minos had been trying to befriend Grace when possible.
The fact she had been tricked into giving out her blood for the production of dangerous drugs was what made the Love Crest reject any previous friendliness. It was the breaking point and the source for self-disappointment from within the Earth Crest. But right now, that didn't matter. The battle was brewing, both sides were ready for the melee and Ambar could only nod in agreement to their desire to repel the invaders.
"Come forth."
Minos blinked, a sharply frustrated expression enveloping his face.
"So be it."
These three words started the Battle of Sandir, the beginning of the last stage of this war. Humans had yet to be involved, but Primes from beyond the stars and those born from Earth were now fighting together as the truest manifestation of this united front happened.
_ This was the kind of development the Emperor wasn't going to like. Not one bit. _
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Kayin was irritated.
The young captain was usually angry at something or someone for reasons that were mostly tied to his own subjective view of them. He fought frequently with his superiors, he was known to be a roguish element due to this, and he was also known to be rather unforgiving on those foes that managed to tilt him in the wrong way. So, when the fight started, he expected to have a kill spree running. He wanted to cut through traitors, to show them the might of the Emperor on those fools for not accepting his true power, but... things got really 'muddy' early on when he couldn't destroy his first opponent.
The Gazelle Prime giggled in clear amusement as her staff easily moved her sword away from hitting the planned target, forcing him to a quick defensive pace which had him incredibly furious at himself. A couple of lone warriors tried to aid the Crest, but nothing that really became a threat to Kayin. The Captain just shredded into his foes without any hesitation, with the only real issue being the staff-user in front of him. It didn't help that the Captain slowly started to actually feel something unpleasant within his chest. It was as if it was going tight, like a knot was forming from within and... could it be Love Magic? He almost gritted his teeth in pure anger at the thought it was a form of simple but limited spell that was meant to drive him crazy.
Kayin was irritated.
The Love Crest was reportedly meant to lack combat prowess from the time she was still in her prison, thus he was incredibly baffled by how she gained enough skills to match up the ones he was proud of. He trained for years to get to this point, to refine his sharp abilities to this degree and... he was reminded in the most unpleasant way possible how Crests tended to attain greater heights through training with fellow Crests, at a rather high pace too compared to normal Primes and Narakhans due to their divine nature. It was unfair, but war was unfair in general as he had learned from his past experiences. Life too. Thus, he didn't hesitate to tap into his Chaos energy to try and turn the tide to a more favorable situation for himself. He felt the power fuel his muscles, soothing the strain and giving him greater vigor with his power and speed. While he was no high priest or Chaos Catalyst, Kayin was still able to use enough magic to give himself a chance to fight in these circumstances. As far as he knew, the Love Crest's main reason why she wasn't using her power was because it could easily end up influencing some of her own troops. And that would be an issue on Prism's side more than theirs.
So, the Imperial Captain had a slim advantage that he planned to exploit for as long and as much as possible, all for the sake of winning this intense battle. The pink-eyed lady picked this up quickly as she ditched her all-out offensive effort to try and brace herself for the sudden shift of pace. Kayin was faster, with his sword pushing right as she was trying to deflect the attack, actually shoving her back and even more back with the next strikes. Panic spread within her face and it was there that the Captain knew he had gotten the advantage he really needed. The Coyote Narakhan just pressed further and further, hitting her staff with as much strength he had within his body and hoping for it to break. For some reason, the change of behavior within that pretty face had him feeling uneasy.
He felt he was doing something wrong due to the pure genuineness within her face. She never showed him any schooled features, it was all face-value and honesty when it came to her current emotions. He would have normally said that this was a sign of weakness but... but he couldn't. It was like something held him back from saying that, to even think that. And his actions felt sluggish too after a while. All he did, the cause of this sudden slow down, was his eyes finding hers. Pink and so pure, as if he was gazing upon new-fallen snow.
It was like he was trying to destroy the purest form of innocence this life could grant and he felt... guilty. And angry at himself. It was his duty to do it, but he was already faltering due to his own reluctance. The young woman seemed to pick this matter, but instead of capitalizing on it she... adjusted her pace to keep the stalemate going. As if she was trying to not 'kill him on the spot'. But that shouldn't be possible. This was still the work of Love Magic. It had to be so. It had to.
He couldn't believe anything else about it and... yet, that notion vanished as she sighed and gave him a smile. "You're not a bad person, are you?"
Her voice and words... They were truthful. Chaos itself confirmed this to him. But... What kind of game was she playing? What did she hope to achieve by tempting him to this degree? Before he could get an answer about it, he saw her go tense, yelping in pure pain and then almost falling on the side. One of the Chaos-Casters had gotten a clear sight within that mess of a battle surrounding them and aimed a spell at her back, striking her with a blast which burned part of her clothes and part of the fur. Not enough of a killing blow, but it put her out of commission as she ended up crashing on his arms. He picked her on the side, noticing that the Love Crest was now unconscious, clearly overwhelmed by the sudden pain. The exceeding energy was suddenly taken by Kayin before it could fester on her wound, leaving the captain himself confused as to why he didn't want her to suffer any more.
Just as he tried to pull a brief retreat to get a few troops to bring their newest prisoner back to the ship, he was suddenly intercepted by a very angry and very stubborn Fire Crest that was lashing out at anything between him and her. Blood spilling, fire scorching and soon Kayin was holding his sword to hold back a murderous Fox Prime away from himself as she wasn't letting him leave. His energy was faltering, his chaos was waning and he knew the heat was just going to increase more and more as the woman fought him.
_ This just wasn't his day from the looks of it. _
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A snarl left Carmesi's mouth as she rushed to Grace's current captor.
When the fight started, she was pissed at Ambar. She wanted to be alone while dealing with Minos, effectively cutting the Fire Crest away from getting her long wanted revenge. She was absolutely seething and... the fighting helped that bad mood a fair bit. It soothed her nerves and left her in her 'happy place' as Theo would call it. It was where she felt the most earnest and the most 'giving' in a way. Since she tended to give out a lot of death to those that were unlucky enough to face her. Her men were not far from showing off their own impressive skills.
The Empire had better equipment, but the Prism Army had far greater discipline and power to rely on. But now that the battle was shifting for an odd turn, she had to intervene to prevent a kidnapping from ensuing. Her blades cut through multiple Imperial soldiers before eventually slamming and clashing with the large blade used by the Imperial Guard. She tried to break it by adding heat and fire to her swords, but it actually failed to put even a single dent on its surface. A bit surprised, but her anger on the matter prevented her from further studying the material used for that weapon. She just didn't care at the moment.
Carmie had dealt with many possibilities within the early stages of this first skirmish. It was, after all, the testing ground of her rigorous training on the troops. And all of them were doing well in their own specialties. But while they had a numerical advantage, the Empire was employing their Chaos-Casters in a rather systematic way. Each of those was shielded by a large group of warriors, effectively giving them the chance to either heal or slay anyone from a safe distance. So, while her troops were doing a fine job, only those that were outright killing their opponents were preventing any continuation of the fights.
Slaying at least three before noticing the issue currently unfolding on the other side of the field, Carmesi was on a roll and one that was about to intensify as soon as he was done with this lucky Captain. She stopped just to decapitate the Chaos-Caster that had gone and had hurt her fellow Crest before he had the chance to pull the same move on her. Soon, she jumped back to intercept the bastard before he could run away with Grace's unconscious body, forcing him to stand his ground and not run away from her with her friend.
"Let her go!" She snarled ferociously, hearing no response from the grunting kidnapper.
So, she went on to punish the fellow sword-wielder by bypassing his blade and delivering a quick cut on his shoulder. The new injury reached from the upper shoulder down to his armpit. It wasn't deep enough to properly disable the limb or sever it, but it stunned him and forced the Coyote Narakhan to take a couple of steps back. He readied his blade weakly, his hold faltering at the pain while his other arm was still grasping around the Love Crest's waist. He was too busy with everything to be able to beat her.
A ferocious smile appeared on her face as she lifted her left sword in a threatening way. "I shall make you pay, bastard!"
This wasn't a fight Carmesi planned to be defeated in. Not when the stakes were so high and she was in clear advantage. She pressed the current situation, using fire to shove him left and right, toying with him while also keeping a watch over where she was hitting to avoid hurting Grace in the process. It was soon clear the Fire Crest was going to win that struggle and that she had to just press the advantage for a little more to actually gain that victory. But... then something that caught her off-guard unfolded before she could do anything about it. Chaos suddenly surged out from the Guard as a chillingly familiar laugh froze her on the spot.
" Ah, at last... Earth."
It wasn't possible, she thought vehemently before feeling her advantage broken by faster attacks. Yet she remembered what Adela had told her about what happened to her mother's former guard. How the marks could be used by the Emperor to shift and take over the mind and body of his Servants. Not only that, but also uses part of his power to his advantage. The swings were just too precise, too strong and too fast for her current self. She pumped out more fire, trying to deter the entity to stay away from her. But the heat didn't stop him and actually urged him to be more vicious in his assault.
" What's wrong, Carmesi? You are the one that defied me the most. Where is your bravado? Where are your gods? And where is your knight~?"
The Emperor cackled madly once more at the lack of answers to those questions, his ferocity reminding her of the limits she couldn't break. The reason why she needed the other Crests to fight him. She felt so small, so minuscule- a tiny fire before a sea of maliciousness and despair. But she tried to stand with as much fierceness as she had in that moment. It wasn't a winnable fight, not in these conditions, but the Fox Prime managed to get a few cuts in before getting pushed away even further. He didn't seem to falter at the growing number of wounds the body he was possessing was now sporting, far from it from the way he just seemed 'calm' about it all. It felt like he was actually enjoying the situation way too much. So much that Carmesi barely noticed how she had fallen for his trap. She was blocking all the approaching attacks, with just a few shallow cuts making through into the exposed sections of her armor and... then he called a win.
" I suppose you shall go now. I had my fun, and now, you bore me."
His blade was now covered in chaotic energy, stabbing through her defence and through her belly, the wild magic cutting all over her stomach and prompting her to vomit blood at the purest form of true pain she was subjected to. It was by far the worst kind of torture she had subjected to. So horrible that she dropped her swords at the sharpness of that feeling. 'T-Too much', she almost blurted aloud, but unable to speak with how much blood was pouring out of her lips. The blade was forcefully pulled out of her, and she dropped to her knees, holding her wound close with her hands, failing to stop the large blood loss she was suffering. In just a moment of absurdity, Carmesi felt true defeat for the first time here. This would have been a defeat culminating in her death. There was no Theo around, Grace was unconscious, and the Narakhans were making a good stand and preventing any attempt to bring them out of the crossfire but...
"RETREAT!"
Minos, Carmesi hummed dryly as her strength was leaving her. She got a quick blurring sight on the Bull Prime and she saw him scampering with numerous wounds and bruises on his body. Ambar was a bit disheveled, but relatively well and lacking any meaningful injuries on her body. This was good news as this meant that Ambar was about to come and aid them against this sudden possession. Still, the Chaos that left from the sword and into her injury was adding extra agony to the wound, making her writhe at the overall sensation. Soon she was unconscious, unable to handle the growing pain, seeing the Emperor flee but... dropping Grace? The Guard was shivering on his retreat, struggling even, as if he was trying to fight the possession back and allowed this missed opportunity to gain a prisoner to happen. Of course the Fire Crest thought that the reasoning was driven by her weakening consciousness, but it seemed logical at the time...
And then she couldn't think properly anymore, slumping down in a pain-filled rest as the troops rushed to retrieve her and Grace. Coughing blood, she could hear Ambar's voice deafened by numbness now coursing within her body. Tiredness took her as she silently blamed herself for having not finished the guard when she got the chance. The pain left her in a state of mental limbo where she wasn't awake and able to properly conjure thoughts, but still perceiving what was going on with her body. Sleep paralysis, but she couldn't actually see anything as her eyes were too tired to see anything.
Was this the end for Carmesi? She couldn't tell at the moment. But soon she could actually think properly and only one thing came up before she finally felt her need to rest spike up. She had been given some painkillers, possibly because she had been brought to a medical tent to treat her current condition. Soon she heard Theo, and she felt more at ease and compelled to find some rest. At first he sounded incredibly quiet but worried about her state, and then he was angry. Really angry. Carmesi could tell that Minos might have done it. Theo was now going to do something stupidly effective because of this.
_ She could only shudder in her slumber at what kind of brutality her current condition might have instigated. _
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AN
The first battle of Earth ends in a Pyrrhic Victory as two Crests are down for the count. Next up? Let's just say that the MC isn't really going to keep quiet and idle about what happened to Gracie and Carmie.
_ It's going to be a bloodbath, isn't it? _
Obviously~.