A peculiar set of events: Part 4
"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding."
-Author: Albert Einstein
-Time: 14th December 1930
-Era: Era of Stagnation
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Location: Underground Mining Area 50 G
Time: Year 17 of the Era of Change
Era: Era of Change
Far away from where the corpses were, Steven and the group had come to a sudden halt. This was because an extremely handsome man was lying unconscious on the ground, surrounded by hundreds of dismembered rotting corpses in front of them. The handsome man in question was peacefully lying unconscious on the ground as if nothing had happened. Although quite disturbed, seeing this, the group didn't find this too upsetting, as they had just previously seen something far more gruesome and terrifying than this. Despite this man's unfortunate position, the group wanted to continue moving on. Yet Steven's comrades in the group knew he most probably wanted to save this man and take him with them. They could hear him explaining that it would be the "right" thing to do. Therefore, before Steven could even say anything, John picked up the man and carried him on his back. Surprised by this, Steven wanted to comment, but he decided to remain silent as he saw his comrades' teasing faces smiling up to him. While shaking his head and rolling his eyes at his comrades, Steven continued to run forward at a comfortable yet still swift pace to make sure he didn't slow down the group any more than he already had.
Yet, after running for a while, Steven suddenly stopped in his tracks. He quickly looked to his left and then to his right, as if he was sensing something. Something was heading towards them. He didn't know what it was, but he knew it was dangerous, extremely dangerous, and seemingly unstoppable. Seeing how Steven had suddenly stopped running and was acting as if something was following them, Steven's comrades immediately stopped running and tried to find out as quickly as possible what was going on.
"What's going on Steven, are you feeling something again, your senses warning you about something?" asked Xiang as he softly put his hand on Steven's shoulder.
"I… I don't know! I feel that something is coming toward us, and it's not too far away. Something extremely dangerous! It's a horde… large groups of beings, that want to… to consume… everything in their path… that not even a speck of dust will remain!" cried Steven with distress as he felt his head was about to explode from all the threatening signals of danger he was receiving.
Before it could get any worse, though, Violet placed her hand on Steven's head, and shining white light appeared from her hands. After this light had shined for around a minute, Steven had managed to calm down. Sighing with relief, he looked over to Violet and said:
"Thanks, Violet. Appreciate it."
"No problem. What else can I use my powers for at the moment? I can mostly only use it for healing and the calming of a person's mind," answered Violet while slightly blushing, which went unnoticed by Steven.
"Well, yeah, thanks anyways. But… uh, we need to get out of here now, I don't why or how, but whatever is coming for us, we can't stop it, there are not enough of us, and we are not strong enough to stop them." As he said this, Steven already began to run ahead with every fibre in his body, as he knew he would rather ache in pain later over stiff muscles and exhaustion than be torn apart and feasted upon whatever was heading towards them.
The rest of the group had also quickly caught up with Steven and made sure to regularly look behind them to know when whatever was chasing them was nearby so that if needed, they could pick up Steven and speed off as quickly as they could. This was only when the time came, though, because they did not want to expend too much energy now and regret it later.
Not too far from where the group was, though, an entirely different situation was finding place on the surface.
Location: Foundation Faction Harbour
Time: Year 17 of the Era of Change
Era: Era of Change
While many things were happening underneath the harbour in the deep underground mining area, none of that affected those at the top. This was partly due to the absolute chaos that the people found themselves in. What was once the Foundation Faction Harbour was now nothing more but a battlefield in a crater. In this crater, there was only chaos; rotting corpses and giant grotesque spiders tearing each other apart. Simultaneously, further away from them, the Foundation Faction was fighting against Phillip and his comrades. Although the battle seemed as if it would continue for an extended period of time, that was far from the truth. This was due to number 175 interference, which ultimately gave Phillip and his comrades the upper hand in the battle against the Foundation Faction members and the grotesque spiders and corpses. Once number 175 had entered the Underground Mining Area, it was only a matter of time before Phillip, and his comrades would be victorious.
This could be seen in the current battlefield, as the grotesque spiders and rotting corpses had essentially finished each other off, while the Foundation Faction's members had all either been killed or seriously wounded. After a few more minutes of fighting, the remaining grotesque spiders and corpses were finished off by the older man, his disciple Temarr, and the scarred man who had previously joined Phillip's group. As for the Foundation Faction, surrender was not on the cards for the Crowned Knights of Freedom. This meant that those from the Foundation Faction who were heavily injured, and had not yet died, were slowly being killed off; even if they begged for mercy, they received none. This was due to the absolute hatred the Crowned Knights of Freedom had for the Foundation Faction. The Foundation Faction had enslaved an uncountable amount of people. They were brutally tortured, brainwashed, used, abused, and murdered. Now that they were free, they would stop at nothing to eradicate the Foundation Faction to its very root. All of those who were involved would be killed.
The overseer of the Foundation Faction Harbour was bleeding heavily as he kneeled on the ground gasping for breath. The once-mighty gluttonous overlord of this once great harbour was reduced to nothing but a weak, dying man. All of his property had been killed or taken from him. His superiors had ignored and abandoned him, and he was nothing but an insignificant pawn. He once saw himself as a man who would thrive in this new world, who would carve out an empire and rise through the ranks of the Foundation Faction, finally receiving the praise he always wanted and deserved. But where was he now? He kneeled on the very spot, which had once been his crown jewel but was now nothing but a heap of ash. Forcing himself to look up, the overseer looked at his executioner. Phillip looked at the overseer with fury and unyielding hatred that wanted to tear the fat man apart. Seeing this, the overseer laughed cruelly and smiled. He then proceeded to say one last thing before he would be taken from this world:
" I know those eyes! I once had them as well! You hate me, and I repulse you, but you are exactly like me! You will become a monster far worse than I ever could be…!" before the overseer could finish his final words, Phillip hammered his shining enlarged bloody pickaxe into the man's forehead, crushing it instantly.
"Never! I shall never become like you demons! You who enslaved hundreds of millions of people! You, who tortured, brainwashed, and created loyal pawns out my friends, making them puppets…! I will eradicate you all! For your crimes! For your atrocities, you have committed! I! I shall KILL YOU ALL!!!!" shouted Phillip as his eyes turned blood red with hatred and anguish, wanting to do nothing more than burn everything in its vicinity. Yet, before this could happen, Phillip felt a soft and smooth hand touch his face. Waking up from his rage-induced state, Phillip saw Tiana. She was smiling with a sad expression while holding his face in her hands. Seeing this, Steven sighed and rubbed his face against hers.
"What…what are you doing!" said Tiana in shock, with a heavily blushing face.
Phillip smiled evilly and started tickling Tiana in front of everyone, and seeing this, the other members of the Crowned Knights of Freedom smiled in joy. They had gone through a brutal battle and had lost a few members, but in the end, it was worth it. They had managed to strike a vital asset to the Foundation Faction in this area. This specific harbour delivered many slaves and resources to important bases in this region. It was also connected to the River of Greed, a critical river that connected many factions and had a lot of trade going back and forth. This meant that if the Crowned Knights could wipe out the Foundation Faction's presence in this region, they would be able to ensure a stable and steady future for their organisation and its members. This, though, would only be much later, as the main army of the Crowned Knights of Freedom was currently facing the Foundation Faction's primary force for this region. That was why Phillip was in such a rush and wanted as few casualties as possible, as they were all still needed to go and help their comrades who were currently in a battle of attrition against the Foundation Faction.
After having had his fun, Phillip surveyed the battlefield and saw that the battle was essentially finished. The only thing left was finding out where they were keeping all the slaves and where all the other Foundation Faction members were. For Phillip knew that although they had fought against quite a number of Foundation Faction members at this harbour, they were far from the actual number of normally present people. Phillip first wanted to ask the scarred man if he knew something, but after thinking for a while, he dropped that idea, as he didn't know if he could truly trust this man and didn't know what links he had to the Foundation Faction. Before he decided what he would do with the scarred man, Phillip would keep him very close to quickly strike the scarred man down if anything did, in actual fact, happen. Therefore, Phillip's only other source of information was the injured man with a green mohawk, called captain. He, too, was heavily injured and, unfortunately, would be of no use. Deciding he would eliminate the heavily injured captain and then question the man with a green mohawk, Phillip slowly walked to Colin with his pickaxe. Seeing this, Colin was extremely anxious, but he knew that it would be best not to show fear in this situation. So as Phillip approached him, he put himself in front of his captain and stared Phillip directly in the eyes.
Phillip chuckled when he saw this. A person from the Foundation Faction showed compassion? Care for others? What a joke! Phillip knew he would enjoy tearing down this man's mask and making him spill out everything he knew. Yet before he could even get close to Colin, something happened entirely out of his expectations. A set of steps made out of ice appeared in the gap between Phillip and Colin. These steps came from the clouds and were extremely thick. At first, Phillip was extremely tense when the steps suddenly appeared. He instantly prepared himself for battle, yet he couldn't help but feel an immense feeling of rage, shock, and utter confusion when he saw the person who belonged to the stairs.
The person who walked down the stairs was an extremely beautiful young woman with long silky azure hair and eyes. She was clothed with an exquisite white robe, shining brightly. On this robe on the left side, a golden blue circular symbol had a mythical feeling to it. Next to this beautiful woman was a young cute looking teenager who wore an identical robe. But it wasn't the beauty of both of these women that shocked Phillip; rather, it was the woman's identity with azure hair which made Phillip furious.
"So, we meet after all this time. My brutish friend. How I've missed you," said the woman while elegantly smiling at Phillip.
"You witch! You bastard! You dare appear before me! After all you have done! After all your betrayal! Evelyn!!!" shouted Phillip with such rage-induced emotions that the very ground shook with tremors.
Hearing this, Evelyn smiled with cold eyes and said:
"I missed you too!"
Following this interaction, the two reunited "friends" would get more surprises than they would have expected and ever hoped for. As their best friend, who they had not seen for 17 years, would suddenly and without any warning crash into their lives.