Battle of Azure

Dante pulled her head down to his chest, cupping her hair as they ducked behind the barrels against the stone wall. The screams around them echoed off the cobblestone, the fires crackled as stones fell from the sky but Dante focused on the girl in his grip, holding her tightly.

"It's ok Aya, we're gonna be ok." He promised. "We just have to get back to the castle."

"I'm scared Dante." The girl admitted her hands clutching at his tunic.

Dante pulled her away and brushed over her face, pushing strands of her blond hair over her ornately dressed shoulder. "You're my princess, Aya. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

A loud cry echoed near them as more shots struck the stone. Aya ducked down but Dante looked up to the sky. Dots shot around in the air, bolting to and fro dodging the streaks of flaming bolts. Wings tucked and curved as the Valkyries dropped onto the city like hawks on the defenders. Dante couldn't see them but he could hear their cries as steel found their hearts. Beyond them, the weapons of war beyond the gates continued their rain.

"Come on." He said standing and pulling Aya to her feet, her dress still dragging the dirty ground. He held her hand in his and brought it before her eyes locking his with hers. "Don't let go of me. We'll be fine once we reach the Glyph Knights."

Aya nodded and sucked back her tears. Dante wrapped her in his arms once more before they moved. The street was a clattered mess, broken wood and carts, discarded items and lines of fire. Arrow shafts, broken wheels and windows as well. Only the Valkyrie's on their wings had breached the walls but it wouldn't be long before the pounding of boots followed on the stone.

Dante ran as fast as Aya would allow. He felt her tug at his arm trying to stop but he kept pulling her on. There were bodies as well, not many but the armored and blood covered forms of guards and soldiers that had fallen from the roofs were lying in the street. Aya would have wanted to help them, but Dante knew they didn't have a chance. Valkyries weren't revered warriors for nothing.

The castle wasn't far but he could already see the winged forms swooping in on it. More lances of flame streaked from the castle and ground below, some hitting the wings and sending burning forms screaming to the ground. Dante didn't have to look back to know Aya must have been crying.

"Princess!" Someone yelled and Dante paused long enough to see a door open and a young woman motioning them in. Dante pulled Aya along and they vanished inside the small stone building.

"They're coming." A man inside, much older than the woman had been said. He was trying to attach a sword and sheath to his belt but after a moment gave up and drew the blade leaving the sheath on the ground.

"Did they get through the gates?" Dante asked, still holding fast to Aya's hand.

"Aye. They are. . ." He paused as he saw Aya. "Princess, what are you doing out here?"

"We. . . we. . . I'm sorry." She said trying to stop her shaking.

"You must get back to the castle." The man said stepping up. He turned to Dante. "Can you get her there?"

Dante nodded his small head firmly. "I will. We must go, now."

"I and the others will do what we can to stall them." The man said standing again. "Go and get out princess to safety." The man turned to the woman pulling her close and kissing her passionately. "I will return. Stay hidden."

"Of course." She breathed back nodding.

The man turned and leapt out of the door rushing down away from the castle while Aya and Dante left and ran towards the massive obelisk.

More men passed them, a nod or halfhearted salute as they bounded off to battle. Dante wanted to join them, to help save the kingdom but he knew he was no use in a fight at his age and for now he had a more important duty. The castle quickly grew and soon they were bounding up the steps. Dante wanted to feel relived but there was a problem.

"Where is everyone?" Aya asked when they entered the main through way. The room looked broken but there were no bodies and no people standing around. In the castle there should have been hundreds of people but here there was no one.

"I don't know, we'll just have to find them." Dante said squeezing her hand. They jogged up the steps but before they could make it past the doors a form fell from above crashing against the stone with a sickening crack.

Dante pulled Aya behind him, not to protect her, there was no need to protect her from the broken soldier's body, but he didn't want her to see it. He had the blue colors of the Azure Kingdom, tainted in red; his armor was bent and broken as his body, blood already forming a pool under him.

Dante chanced a glace up to the battlements. The streaks of winged invaders were all around but one seemed larger than the rest, and getting bigger. Before he could think of what to do, the Valkyrie touched down hard against the cobblestone, white wings slowly folding behind him. His armor clinked lightly against itself as he stood to full height, a long sword gripped loosely in his hand. From under the helm, his eyes leered at them.

Dante back up, pressing Aya away but quickly discovered his mistake. In his haste to get away from the Valkyrie he had moved away from the castle doors and now was pressing against the stone wall, the winged invader blocking them from the safety of the castle. With a grunt, the warrior strode towards them.

Dante's hands fumbled on his hip before drawing out his knife and holding the blade out before him. It was less than a third the size of the Valkyrie's sword but it was all he had. The drawing of the weapon made the older male pause.

"Put it away boy." He said calmly, gradually raising his blade. "If you don't I'll have to kill you to take the girl."

"You're not taking her." Dante said. Instantly his eyes darted around for any help, any escape but there was none; they were trapped with their backs against the wall. Beside him, Aya gripped at his arm.

"I don't want to kill her, and I don't want to kill a child. Put it away." He raised his sword to add to his point but Dante defiantly shook his head.

"Dante. . . don't do this." Aya whispered in his ear. Dante huffed and reached one hand over grabbing hers and pulling her close.

"When he attacks, go under his legs and run inside. Find my father and you'll be safe."

"Dante. . ."

"This guy can't catch me Aya. You know better." He whispered trying to sound confident but he knew it must have failed by how tightly she clenched his arm. He ignored her whimpers and grabbed his weapon as the Valkyrie stepped closer.

"I'm sorry boy." He said bringing the sword high before he stepped up and swung in the same motion.

Dante pushed Aya off and lunged ahead trying to get under the attack before it reached and drive the blade into the Valkyrie's stomach, but he was stopped. A screech of metal on metal and a blue wave stopped his advance. The Valkyrie cursed and was thrown back with another clash of steel.

Dante fell back to Aya as the form rushed ahead swinging a sword up on the stumbling invader but the Valkyrie deflected the blade again. In a move that seemed too fluid and fast the figure spun, its blue cape trailing and brought his sword around on the Valkyrie's right.

The winged fighter however leaped away and with a single flap of his wings was airborne. He beat his wings again gaining height on his enemy and turned to flee. The moment his back was turned the caped warrior raised his free hand. Dante saw the light glow from the back of his hand just as a massive phantom hand appeared in the air.

The flying enemy tried to pull away but the phantom fist grabbed hold, crushing his wings to his side. The caped man drew his hand down like a hammer and the phantom hand followed like a shadow slamming itself and the captured Valkyrie into the cobblestone street, bits of dust and rock flew into the air as the Valkyrie was buried.

Dante started at the blue cape of their savior as he slowly turned back to them, his face a smooth, familiar sight.

"Dad!" Dante nearly screamed lunging at his father and wrapping his arms around his waist.

The older man placed his hand on Dante's back, the dim glow of the intricate glyph on his hand still present. "It's alright Dante. You did well." His eyes raised on the young girl still clinging to the wall. "Princess, are you alright?"

Aya nodded furiously. "I-I'm ok, Leon. Dante took good care of me. Where are my parents?"

"Safe in the throne room. Knights Garson and Darius are with them. Come, let's get you to them." Lean said ushering the children inside. He scanned the ground behind them as he pushed the young boy and girl inside. Once they were inside he began leading them through the halls. Despite the state of the low town outside the castle remained unharmed but empty.

"Father, how is the battle going?" Dante asked walking abreast the older warrior.

"We have lost much, but the Valkyrie's attacking the castle are losing without help from the ground." He said firmly.

"But as we came in the people said the gates had been broken." Aya said, still clutching Dante's hand.

"Aye, and we sent the guards in mass to protect the low town. They will hold it while the Glyph Knights hold here. We'll just get you to your parents and then I'll help drive the rest of them off." As they moved down the hall Leon looked down to his son. "You did well, standing to defend Aya like that." He put a hand on his son's back. "I'm proud of you."

Dante smiled at his father. He wanted to say something back but his voice failed him and instead he nodded furiously. He was still looking at his father when Leon's face twitched and his eyes shot wide like he had been stabbed. "Dad?"

"Something's wrong." He mumbled. In a flash he drew his sword and bounded ahead. "Stay back!" He called as he approached the door to throne room. He pressed his hand to the door, the glyph on his hand glowed again and the doors gave a small wave of light over the heavy wood before they swung inward. The blue cape blocked much of the door but Dante ignored his father's warning running next to him with Aya held close. He nearly screamed when he saw what was inside.

The long throne room had two ornate thrones set against the far wall. In the center was an overturned banquet table split in half. Broken items littered the floor and scarred the once immaculate wall. No windows led to this room, the torches were the only light to be had and they lit every inch of the stone room.

Including the bloody bodies strewn across the ground.

Four bodies lay in a growing pool of blood. Two draped under blue capes near the table. The other two had their blood soaked into the thrones and the ground before it, and amidst the dead stood their reaper. A figure sheathed in black, the very air around him seemed to broil and swirl with dark, in his hand was the sword, the red of fresh blood a sharp contrast to the black of the blade.

"Noooo!" Aya screamed trying to push into the room but Dante managed to hold her back. Her scream did not go unnoticed.

The black figure turned, long black hair shimmering under the torch light. Despite the light, his face still seemed hidden, except for the white sharp teeth that twisted into again.

"Ah, there she is." He hissed, his voice like dry paper brushed over sand. "I was worried I had missed her. Come on little one, go with mommy and daddy."

Leon stepped forward his hand held out as the glyph glowed again. A bolt of red shot from his palm but seemed to simply be swallowed by the black wave that rose from in front of the figure. As the wave crashed away Leon was across the room, sword poised to thrust through his foe.

The figure's free hand rose, the black swirling around him coalesced into a form as he gripped his new weapon, a wicked hooked hand axe and used it to deflect the incoming strike. He brought the black sword up but Leon's hand flashed again and he was thrown away from the black figure as the sword swung through the air.

"Dante!" Leon screamed taking his stance again. "Take Aya and run! Go to a safe place!"

Dante understood what he meant, the meaning under the words. He nodded firmly despite the fact his father never speared him a glance. He moved back to the door, but Aya was transfixed, her eyes looked on the bodies at the throne.

"Come on!" Dante yelled pulling her so hard the smaller girl stumbled after him. Dante didn't turn once they were out of the room, but he could hear the familiar clash of steel on steel punctuated by the screaming howl of magic and its thunderous power shaking the stone around them.

Safe place. Those words didn't mean to just find a cupboard and hide, it was something his father had shown him before and he knew exactly where it was. The hall shook again as the battle raged behind them, Aya was crying but managed to keep her legs moving, however it was not nearly fast enough.

Dante stooped and kneeled for an instant tugging Aya firmly onto his back. Her arms wrapped around his chest in a familiar embrace they had shared in happier times. He took off as fast his legs would carry him, down a hall around a corner down these stairs.

There it was.

The path to the barracks of the glyph knights was a place that many saw but no one ever saw the small outcrop in the side. The small depression in the stone seemed random and a mark of an unskilled craftsman but it was instead the safe place. Dante pressed on the correct stone and the rock parted before them. He pushed Aya in first and fell in right behind her.

It was dark and there was nothing to do about it. The darkness became absolute when the wall behind them fell back in place. There was no light but Dante knew there was nothing to see. The room was tiny, it could fit one fully grown man comfortably, two if they were pressed together. For two children there was plenty room. Dante kept his hand on Aya's and when he knew the door was back in place he pulled her to him and wrapped her in his arms.

"I'm so sorry." He cried, finally letting it all catch up, what had happened, where they were, all of it.

Aya didn't try and stop herself, her head leaned into his chest her arms gripped his tunic and she cried weeping, gasping tears. Her crying was soft weak pouts; if there were words he didn't understand them. Her body trembled in his hands as she tried to bury herself deeper in his chest.

Dante tired not to think about his father, about the thing that had been that room. It wasn't a Valkyrie, or human, or even a krunt. It was something worse. It had killed two other glyph knights, and the king and Queen. Aya's parents.

He squeezed her tighter as she cried. "Shh, you're going to be ok Aya. I swear nothing's going to hurt you." He promised without being sure if he could keep the promise. He didn't know for how long, but he stayed there in the dark, cradling the crying princess in his arms while she released all of her tears. While she didn't see it, he let out his own.

. . .

It got quiet for a time and Aya passed out from her crying. Dante continued to hold her to him after she was asleep keeping an ear out. He didn't hear anything for a long time until the rapid tap of boots on stone.

He slowly reached to his knife, twisting as he sat to reach it without moving Aya too much. He held the blade out as the footsteps got closer and stopped just beyond the wall. There was no way to see who it was so he held the blade up with the tip aimed out to run through whoever their guest was if they found the entrance.

They did.

The wall slid apart and the light spilled in almost blinding Dante. He didn't wait and thrust the knife out. The blade sank into air and he slashed it about trying to find the intruder but there was no one. Suddenly a firm hand gripped his wrist and wrenched the knife away from him. He tried to pull away but the hand belonged to one much stronger and he was yanked from the dark, leaving Aya behind he kicked out to face the enemy.

"Dante! Wait!" The voice said as soon as he was in the light.

He stopped and looked at who held his arm and let out a held breath he didn't know he was holding. "Knight Vance." He breathed. "Thank the gods."

"Is the princess with you?" The older man asked kneeling to the boy's level and gripping his shoulders.

Dante nodded and ducked back into the hole. With the light he found Aya on the ground starting to stir. "Come on Aya, we're safe." He said with a smile. The girl was still groggy but obeyed her friend and was pulled from the hole.

As soon as she was in the light the knight breathed heavy sighed of relief. "By Aren you're still alive." Ignoring all precedent he kneeled and wrapped the girl in a hug. "I'm sorry princess. Your mother and father. . ."

"I know." She whispered, her face already shaking again.

"Come. The others will want to know you are safe." Vance said standing. He led them back down the same halls now a light with the sun. Dante didn't venture any look outside, he trailed behind the knight and the princess in front of him casting his eyes to the ground following the pair by Aya's dress.

In a few minutes they were back to the throne room. The doors were gone, nothing but ash now. There were many more people now, huge groups of people running through the halls, in and out of the large throne room. Vance led them past them all, but everyone, even those who seemed in the greatest of hurries paused long enough to see the tiny blue clad princess clutched to his side. Her presence seemed to make them all move a little faster.

The throne room was much the same but now the bodes and table were gone, instead all along the side of the wall were white sheets with unusual bulges under them, each one lined next to each other, like paper dolls.

Two of the sheets were apart from the others, set closer to the bloodstained thrones. Vance looked from them back down to Aya and before he could do anything the girl began a slow stumbling walk towards them.

Dante walked up and took her place by his side. "What happened Vance? What of the battle?"

"We drove them back. The soldiers held the low town, the glyph knights held the keep, but we lost many. The battle is over, the high summoner arrived hours ago and drove the rest of Drelum's forces away. Something else slipped past us somehow and killed their majesties. As well as several of their guards, and the knights, nearly all of us were killed."

"I know. We saw it. Did my father figure out what it was? And where is he I wanted to. . ." He stopped when he saw how Vance was looking at him. "Vance, where is my father?"

Vance nodded his head and looked Dante in the eye. "When we drove off the Valkyries we returned to the throne room. Your father was there. I'm sorry Dante, he's was dead when we arrived." His head slowly rose to the sheets.

Dante followed his gaze and shot past him. He felt the hand on his back but shook it off. He couldn't say how but he knew which one it was in the line. He slipped between two servants and reached the sheet grabbing its edge and pulling it back. The cloth fell from his hands.

His father was still in full armor, his sword lay across his chest, the blade chipped and battered. His armor was broken in several places, gashes and tears, plates missing, links torn away. The hole in his chest, right where his heart ought to be was still sickly red and black with blood. His face was still the same old scarred face he had known, no blood or trace marked it. It looked like he was about to wake up any moment if you didn't look below his neck.

He only stared for a moment before Vance was there casting the cloth back over the knight. He was saying something but Dante didn't hear any of it. He looked from the white sheet and back over his shoulder. Aya was beside a pair of sheets on her knees just staring down.

He didn't wait for anything else; he got to his feet and plodded over towards her. She didn't react when he stepped behind her. She didn't react when he kneeled down and wrapped his arms around her. She didn't react when he pressed his head into her back. When he started to cry, she pressed her hand over his and held it there.

She finally turned around, their eyes didn't meet but the two children hugged each other tightly tears falling on the other's shoulders as both cried in the middle of the room. No one bothered them.

Dante felt rage, anger, sadness and hate all boiled together in his mind. He didn't let any show, he didn't like acting so weak in front of Aya. He was supposed to be strong, to be her protector, her knight and there was never a moment in his life he felt weaker than in that instant.

He raised his head from her shoulder and looked out over the room again. The white sheets, the people, the old room in all its former glory. . . .

None for it was there.

Blood ran down the walls, bodies hung from the ceiling, swords decorated the walls ceiling and floor, blood red blades dripping life through the air. In the center of it all, was the assassin, the black shadow that stood there, cloaked in black, shifting like a ghost. In one hand was its twisted curved sword, in the other was his head. His father's head.

The monster smirked again, stark white teeth and it raised the hand holding his father's head, only it wasn't his father anymore.

It was Aya.

Dante shot upright. Sweat clung to every inch of skin, wetting the bed and the sheets around him. In a fit he threw the sheets away that clung to his skin. The room was dark, only the faint glow of moon light from the window came in and even it did little to illuminate the room. He scanned every inch of the room looking for anything, anything that would preclude a threat but only the familiar shapes in the dark returned to him.

"Dante?" The soft voice beside him brought him back to where he was quickly. He controlled his mad breathing and look back down at Aya as she sat up beside him. "Nightmares?"

He nodded. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." He said caressing her cheek.

She lovingly pushed against his hand running her own hand over the glyph etched on the back. "It's ok. It was only a dream."

"I was dreaming about the war. The night the castle fell." He admitted as they both lay back down.

She twitched at the mention. "It was a bad time."

He softly kissed her forehead. "But you made it better. You stepped when we really needed you."

She smiled and pressed against him as he wrapped her in his arms again. "I remember a certain young boy holding me while I cried."

"And that boy will always be here." He said kissing her ear as he spoke making her tremble in his grasp.

"I love you." She whispered.

"And I you." He said holding his love close, the memories of all they had lost making him squeeze her tightly and look down on the mark etched on his hand. "Always."