Living In Dark Times.

Jacob heard something whiz by him and crash into a vase, breaking it into pieces. He instinctively looked behind him a saw some one stumbling backwards onto the balcony railing. He grabbed a dagger that was on a nearby table and rushed toward the assassin. He grabbed the collar of her shirt and raised his dagger and was coming down when his eyes adjusted to the dark and saw that it was Olira. He stopped inches away. Not knowing why he did but something didn't feel right about doing it. He took countless lives but this one life he knew he could not take. He looked into her eyes. "Olira?"
 
When Olira felt a tugging on her collar as she prepared to jump from the balcony, she panicked, seeing the glint of metal. She wrenched herself from his grip and tried to jump down to the first ledge, but slipping and she nearly fell from the balcony until she caught herself on the edge. She reaches up with her hand and grasps the railing, pulling herself up.

"Please," Olira pleads, her muscles locking up, "don't kill me. I don't know why I did it. Akiroke` seemed so sad when he found out, and I owed him a favor, and I thought it would be the easiest way to fix everything, but I was wrong." She speaks rapidly, tears forming in her eyes. Finally, she composed herself. "I have committed a crime, and you have every right to do what you wish with me. I will not fight."
 
"I'm not going to kill, if I was I would have done it already. So you need not to worry about that.' Jacob said camly. "Not sure if I properly introduce myself. I'm Jacob." He reached a hand out to shake. "He soon realized that he had nothing but his under garments."Umm let me find some clothers to wear." He walked away and put on some trousers and a shirt. "Have a seat." He said with his hand indicating the chair he was sitting earlier.
 
Cautiously, Olira moves to the chair Jacob indicated, still wary. "Why are you letting me live? You should at least put me in a cell for a week. I nearly killed you." She enunciates, trying to make it clear to him that it was what she had expected. "You should have killed me, that's what humans do. Not that I want to die, but it's what any other human would have done." Her brow furrows, as she silences herself and goes into her thoughts.
 
"Yes, Nearly killed me." Jacob said while emphasizing nearly. " It was such a easy shot, that I wonder if you really wanted to go through with it. Or maybe that yo wanted to be killed yourself, you say you don't. But it seems other wise." Jacob knew he should kill her in public to make an example. But something kept telling him not to. He kept looking into her eyes and he had that same feeling he did when sitting under the tree in the garden. He felt at peace with himself. He grew up around war, lived war since he was 17. The only thing he knew was war. This new feeling, a peace feeling and he didn't wanna lose it anytime soon.
 
"Except I wanted to go through with it, but something stopped me. I have no idea what it was, but something stopped me, and now I can never show my face around the Justicar again. He'd hate me if he found out I couldn't do it." Olira puts her head in her hands and weeps softly, not knowing what else to do. Ever since the humans came, it seems that her whole life has been uprooted, that nothing can or will be normal ever again. "Do you know what it's like," whispers Olira, "to have everything you've ever loved in your life taken away. King Aranlasg was like a father to me." Her voice slowly gets to normal. "He brought me up from a child, educated me, even let me eat at his table sometimes. I'm the only person he'd ever fully trust, because I'd been with him since he first arose to the throne. Now, it seems even Lafke doesn't trust me anymore." She looks up, tears streaming down her cheeks.
 
"Umm apparently this Justicar is the mastermind behind this assassination." Jacob whispered to himself. Now speaking to Olira. "No I'm afraid not. This life is all I have ever known." Jacob saw he crying and wanted to comfort her but did not know how nor did he think she would want him to. " I don't know what to say except war is ugly. Fathers bury their sons, women become widows, and children become orphams. I wish I could change it but I can't." Jacob said more tohimself than to her. "He placed a hand on her shoulder. " I truly am sorry for the pain I caused."
 
"Why did this stupid war even start?" Olira asks no one in particular. "All it has done is killed countless people for the last century. Every sword that is made, every warboat launched, every trebuchet fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. I am fed up to the ears with old helk dreaming up wars for young helk to die in." her voice grows increasingly shrill. "It isn't ri-" She cut off by a shout outside, followed by a bright flickering light.

"I have not yet begun to fight! You are filthy insects beneath my feet! Give me everything you have, I guarantee you I will come out on top. I can walk on water, I can fly! I am Tanri!" The voice that claimed to be Tanri, the king of the gods, had a voice to match, one that shook the castle's foundations.

Running to the balcony, Olira sees a fiery figure, easily taller than the castle. Where the heart should be, Ilases is suspended there, his eyes closed, his mouth agape. Most of the fields are on fire, as are several human figures running about the grounds. The flaming avatar had rough-hewn features, as if drawn by a child. Every step it took left a burnt patch of grass. In the town, half a mile out, the figures of elves were running about, their shouts heard above the popping of fire, carried by the wind.

"Oh, no," whispered Olira, knowing what had happened. Someone had probably done something to provoke Ilases, and his other personality took control, the one that knew exactly what was happening, spoke with proper Common, and hated everything that wasn't elven. Turning to Jacob, she says, quickly, urgently, "You need to evacuate all of your soldiers. If you don't he'll kill everyone until he can get to you. Ilases, he has this, I don't know, thing that makes him forget who he is. It only happens when someone provokes him, like takes away that ring he always wears." Ilases' ring was a deep green, set in silver. It was given to him by Aranlasg, as a member of the royal family. Olira wrings her hands, worried that even more deaths will become of this.

Hearing movement to her left, she finds Xorabith and Lafke leaping across the ledges. Xorabith, who was in front, called to her, "Quickly! We need to get down there. Lafke, did you remember the medicine?"

"Yes, let's just get down there before something bad happens." They reach the balcony, Xorabith catching Lafke as he fell backward. Seeing the general, Lafke sniffs pretentiously and says to Olira, "You two best friends now or something?"
 
Seeing the giant, Jacob was struck with fear at first unable to move. Wondering if this was a dream or reality. He donned on his armor, grabbed his sheald and his double edge sword. It was fully equiped within minutes. Some one barged in. "Sir! Sir!" There is a giant beast attacking the city. "Have every archer on top of the castle, firing at will. " Tell me Litherion and David and their men meet me on the left flank. The others on the right flank. I may have a plan."

"Aye, Aye sir" he said with a salute and rushed out. He did have plan but it was crazy plan. He was doubtful it would even work but it had no choice. Lives was at stake and he had do something and do it quick. He rushed out the room.

(sorry for the short post and that it took so long, got a new work schedule and im not used it yet lol)
 
The three servants followed Jacob down the halls of the castle, Lafke holding a vial that contained a medicine, more like a poison really, that would hopefully calm Ilases down enough to cause him to revert to his normal self.

This had happened once before, Ilases going all Tanri and causing senseless destruction. Some of the townsfolk believed he had been touched by the god when he was born. In exchange for a great power, Tanri took away half of his mind. Others believed that Tanri had been reborn, but to do this, he had to take the soul of an elven child, Ilases, who would forever fight the god for his body. The last incident this happened, Ilases lost his ring, which seemed to act as a plug for Tanri's powers. The loss of that ring allowed Tanri to take control, and resulted in the destruction of half the town. The gods know what he'll do now, since human soldiers are everywhere in the city and outlying areas.
 
The soldiers gathered where Jacob had told them to. But there was much less than what he thought there would be. He assumed that they was spread though the city unable to get there, which he didn't think they would even know that they was suppose to meet. Only thing he could do was pray for the safety. He looked over to where Litherion and David's men was, they had roughly the same amount of men. He saw Litherion looking over at him, waiting for the go ahead. Jacob met his eyes and nodded. Every soldier took off at a full sprint. With shields, spears, swords, axes, and many other various types of weapons.

The archers were firing non stop, but it seemed to barely effect the giant. But eventually it got his attention and he started striding toward the castle, which also meant he was heading toward Jacob and his men. "Good, looks like the first part worked." Jacob whispered to himself.
 
Olira leads the other two around the back of the castle, hoping to catch him off guard. She nods to an elf from the village before throwing an open flask of water over his head. Xorabith and Lafke did the same, the flasks connected to the three with long strands of ribbon. The water would fall onto Ilases' avatar and his size would shrink a bit.

"Don't let the ribbon touch the avatar, it's all we have." Olira shouts to the others, then continues the throwing of opened flasks. The flaming avatar realized what was happening and turned its attention to the ribbons, burning all three in seconds. He turned back into Ilases' body, but it looked like black fire encompassed him. He began striding towards Olira, going to who knows what.
 
The charging men was a little half way there, when the giant transformed, shrinking some but black like fire consuming him. The men froze in amazement. The tip of Jacob's sword dropped to the ground. He was fearstruck. The first time in his life, he felt overwhelmed with fear. He couldn't figure out why. He was smaller but something about that flame gripped a hold of him and would not let go. He manged to look at the men next to him and he saw that looked the same way. Then a new kind of fear welled up inside of him and fear for losing his men. Many trusting and loyal soildiers. Soldiers with a family at home and soldiers who wanted to start a family when they returned. That fear for his men gave him the courage to push the through he gripped the hilt of sword even tighter and started heading to the firey elf.

He looked back at his men and remained motionless. He turned back to face the fire elf and it was like he was the only one in the world. He could only see his destination. What was seconds felt like hours. His heart beating faster with every step, pumping him full of adrenaline. The elf was within fifty yards, forty yards, twenty yards, ten yards. He pulled the hilt of his sword underhis shoulder with the tip of the blade facing the elfs back, aiming for the heart. Then within a spilt second he plunged the sword into the elf's back.
 
Feeling the sword penetrate him, the fiery Ilases turned from Olira, to Jacob. He was standing right behind him, and although he was trying to look brave, possibly for his soldiers, Olira could see it in his eyes that he was terrified. "Please," She said, a tear falling from her face, "Ilases, I know you are inside of it. You can hear me. I need you to push through whatever is holding you back. You can free yourself."

"You seriously believe he can defeat a god?" The words shouted themselves inside her head, leaving her with a deafening ringing in her ears and a sharp headache. They weren't hers, they had the voice of this demon-Ilases. The sword to the back had seemed to have no effect, only making him more mad.

Xorabith, seeming to lost it, ran to Ilases, putting his arms around him in a tight embrace. His white gloves and uniform quickly blackened, but didn't burn, unlike his eyebrows and the tips of his hair. "Break through it," He said, not as a suggestion but as a command.

And, maybe because of that, maybe not, Ilases's eyes within the fiery mess shot open wide, a panicked look to them. He had always like Xorabith more than any of the others, clinging to him like a child sometimes. So, perhaps, he responded to him more than Olira's or anyone else's attempts at helping. He looked down, seeing the sword still protruding from his chest, blood dripping down the wound as he awoke.

"Oh." He said, a whisper, before he fell to his knees in Xorabith's arms.
 
As Ilases fell to his knees, the sword came out of his back. Jacob was still in shock from the look that the demon Ilases gave him. He never felt like it before but as soon as it came it went. Now Ilases laid before him in one of the elf's arms. He knew that Ilases only had moments before he drew his last breath. Jacon stood there motionless still holding his sword which is now covered in blood. He looked behind him still seeing his men standing back aways from him. Then he turned his attention back to the elves in front of him, seeing all their sad and broken hearted faces. He felt sad for them. He knew this elf, Ilases, wasn't all there. But something happened to make him transform. He wondered what had occured for a second but pushed it a side when another thought came to him. "Are the elves gonna retalilate?" He asked himself. He backed away a few steps and studied his surroundings. Nothing was happening at least not yet. He looked back at the elves in front him and saw Olira. She looked so sad and defeated that he wanted to comfort her and before he knew he was walking slowly toward her.
 
Tears fell from every elf present save for Lafke, who was looking away. Xorabith was crying the worst, sobbing and hugging Ilases body. But they were tears of anger, not sadness. Everyone present could see that, that Xorabith was hurt the most. But he wouldn't do anything now, not when so many soldiers were around. He was too calculatory, would figure that he'd never achieve anything except for a cold cell in the dungeon.

Finally seeming to get it together, he got up, striding to Lafke. He said something inaudible to him, and as Lafke nodded his agreement, came to Olira before Jacob.

"Olira, I'm leaving. I can't stay here at the castle where my king was killed." He began in a low voice. "I'm going to start a revolution. I'm going to take back the city. I don't know when I'm coming back. But I'll definitely be in town." Olira, covering her mouth with her hand, nods, tears falling down her cheeks. "I'll be gone by dawn."

"Please, don't do anything stupid." She says, hugging him. Then, as Xorabith began walking back to the castle, determination in his steps. Seeing Jacob coming towards her, Olira asked, "What is it?" before choking back sobs.
 
Without realizing it he placed a hand on her shoulder he wanted to cheer her up. He started to say something but the words didn't come out right and it sounded like a bunch of jiberish. He stop himself and to recollect his thoughts and then finally manged to say. "Sorry, I...I felt like I had no choice he was killing my men and then when he near you I thought that..." His stopped himself and thought that would make her very uncomfortable after all, all this is fault. " I didn't want to no more people to die, human or elf." He looked her eyes seeing her cry made him want to cry. He felt weak and he didn't know why. Well he had an idea why but wouldn't abmit it. He couldn't abmit and they made everything worse. He had to lie to himself. "Was you and him close?" He asked her.
 
"Ilases has been around the castle for a while, as long as I've been working here, at least." Olira says between sobs. "We weren't that close. Not like him and Xorabith. But he was still my friend and I hate the thought of knowing he won't be around to walk the earth anymore." She breaks down again, hunching her shoulders and leaning slightly into Jacob, needing a shoulder to cry on. In the back of her mind, she had a sense of foreboding, as if something bad was going to happen.
 
The moon was shining bright making it easly visible under the night sky but no one hardly noticed it during the short crisis. The people who did notice surely didn't notice that it didn't last long. Dark clouds came rolling it, covering up the moon. Making darker than darker but no one could have notice with the building caught ablaze and hundreds of men and elves holding torches. If they did notice they would see that these dark clouds was not you're normal cloud there was something eerie about them. But most of the attention was focused on the aftermath of the chaos that just occured. Carry dead bodies to be buried, mainly human bodies. Only a very few elves suffered. The giant was mainly concentrated on the human invaders. But besides all that a lot of the attention was on Jacob and Olira.

As Olira laid her head into Jacob's shoulder, he spreaded his arms to wrap aroud but froze for a moment knowing that this was forbidden. It was against law to show any type of affection for elves. Especially feelings that Jacob had now. He was fighting against everything that he was taught, everything that he grew up believing. But it was all crumbling down before him. He gave up and wrapped his arms around her. He could feel the eyes from his men burning into his back. He knew there would be consequences but at this moment he did not care. He pushed her back a little not in a shameful but so he could look into her eyes. He wipe the tears from them. He hesitated knowing that what he was going to do next would have the biggest consequence of all.

He started to lean foward to touch her lips with his. Thunder roared from the skies. It started to rain just a little. But Jacob failed to notice all these things. His heart racing. He was nervous, he was scared. "What if she didn't kiss back?" he asked himself. His eyes was closed but he knew he was only a inch or two from her lips when the unthinkable happen. A hand rose the ground and grabbed his foot.
 
She gasped when Jacob had embraced her. It was completely and utterly forbidden for him to do that. But, she didn't fight back. Why? She knew she should, that if Lafke was watching, which he probably was, then he'd be mortified. Olira had never known these feelings for anyone, this tightness in her chest. Yet she knew what it was. It wasn't bad, but it could also spell the worst for the two of them. When he pulled back and wiped away her tears, she blushed slightly.

Her whole face turned red when he leaned forwards but, closing her eyes, she wanted it to happen. What will come of this? raced along inside her head, but right now, she didn't care. Her heart was pounding in her chest, shutting out the thunder that crashed above the two. She felt him hesitate, felt him stop, and she opened her eyes, seeing what was wrong.
 
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