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Breaking the silence, Yan asked us all, "So what are we going to do?"

"Isn't it obvious? We have to stop Rida!" Cleite said with fury in her eyes.

I looked at everyone in the circle and they all looked conflicted.

Cleite continued, "I mean, we've been protecting everyone from the demons, so why should we stop now? This kingdom is fine without us in control of the government".

"But do you really want to end up like Lina?" Tanken asked quietly.

"That's why we won't lose! We have to win!" Dao said while punching the ground.

Yan looked around and asked us in a serious voice, "So are we all in agreement to stop Rida?"

After a long pause, we all nodded "yes". Yan sighed and said, "Then we'll return to the king to give him our answer. Then we'll train for the next five days. Then we'll find a way to stop Rida".

In oppressive silence, we went back to the throne room and bowed to the king. When we stood back up, he asked us, "What have you decided on?"

"We have decided to fight against Rida and Gadalka," Yan replied. The people in the room let out a collective sigh of relief at our answer.

Nodding ever so slightly, King Kashikoi said, "In the next few days, we will meet and discuss our next moves. We need to stop Rida and Gadalka. For the sake of everyone".

Solemnly we all nodded in agreement.

Speaking up, Yan requested, "May we have time to bury a fallen comrade now?"

The king only nodded and dismissed us. We walked back to the caravan where Lina's body was resting. Kuma and Wudao gently carried Lina's body to the cemetery behind the palace. When we finally had her buried in her coffin, we stood in silence in front of her grave.

Quietly, Yan said a few words, "We stand here today as a fallen member of our family has been cruelly taken away from us. Even though she had only been with us for a few days, she was a full member of our troop, our family. Her power electrified all the people who witnessed it and she always had a way to make us smile. In honor of her memory, we stand here today. We may never see each other again in this life, but we will definitely meet again in the next life".

After Yan stopped speaking, tears were streaming down everyone's faces. I didn't know it would hurt this much to lose her because we only met a few days ago, but she already felt like she was a sister. Clenching my fists at my side, I promised myself that I would stop Rida and avenge Lina's death.

We stood in front of Lina's gravestone for a while, each of us in our own little worlds as we thought about our situation. In a mere five days, we'll be fighting Rida and Gadalka.

Sitting in my room, Cleite, Dao, Tanken and I were trying to pass the time by playing a board game while Yan was filling in the king about what Rida told us. I glanced down at the board and frowned as I saw that I was last. We were playing a popular board game called "Angels Rising". The point of the game to equip your 'angel' with all angelic weapons and armor. Each player rolls a dice and then moves the number of spaces that was rolled. The spaces on the board contain good, bad, and neutral slots which can help you gain weapons/armor or take away weapons/armor. Some spaces are challenge spaces where you can challenge another player to a 'duel'. Whoever rolls the higher number can steal a weapon or armor from the loser. The first player to equip their angel with all the weapons and armor wins.

I rolled the dice and got a seven. Moving my piece seven spaces, I landed on another bad space. This space made me give up one turn. I sighed as I looked at everyone else. Cleite was the closet to winning with Tanken in a close second. I handed the dice over to Dao.

He rolled the dice and got a nine. His angel landed on a challenge space. Grinning, he stood up and pointed at Cleite and said dramatically, "I CHALLENGE YOU CLEITE TO A DUEL!!!"

With an evil grin Cleite replied, "Challenge accepted!"

Since Dao was the challenger, he rolled the dice first and got a ten. With a smirk he handed Cleite the dice and said, "Just try to beat that Cleite!"

"Don't worry I will," Cleite said calmly as she shook the dice in her hands. With a glint in her eyes, she rolled the dice and rolled a twelve. Pointing at Dao she said, "HA! Now hand over the angelic spear!" She waggled her hand out towards Dao and he huffed in annoyance as he handed over the piece. Grinning, Cleite said, "Now I just need the angelic helmet to win!"

Tanken then took the dice and rolled them. He got a eight and landed in a blank space. Cleite then took the dice and as she rolled them, the door to my room opened with a bang as Kuma came barging in.

"Guys! We have trouble!" he exclaimed as he walked in with a frantic look on his face.

"What's happened?" Dao asked concerned.

"Demons have started to attack the castle!" Kuma replied, still panicking.

"WHAT???" we all exclaimed in shock.

"I'll explain as we go!" Kuma then left the room. Before following him, Cleite said with a smirk, "I win!" as she took the angelic helmet from the board. I glanced at the board and saw that Cleite had landed on a space that let the person take any weapon/armor that they needed.

We then rushed out of the apartment and followed Kuma to a tall tower where we saw hordes and hordes of demons running towards the palace. They had completely ignored the market and the houses and were coming straight towards the palace.

"Yan, Wudao, and Nathair are already down there ready to fight them. I'm going to go tell the king about this! You guys go down there and help them!" Kuma ordered us. He then nodded at us and ran out of the tower.

Cleite then asked us, "Ok! I can only carry two people with me down there. So that means that one person has to find another way down!"

Tanken looked at each other and grinned. They then did "rock, paper, scissors" which Tanken lost. Without a word, Tanken ran out of the tower. Cleite then grabbed both Dao and I and jumped out of the tower. With a fwip Cleite's wings flapped open and we were flying. Cleite soared down and told us, "I'm gonna drop you guys in 3 . . ."

We got closer to the ground.

"2 . . ."

I prepared myself for a rough landing.

"1 . . ."

I closed my eyes.

"Now!"

I then felt Cleite let go of us. We weren't to far from the ground so Dao and I landed somewhat easily to the ground. Looking up I saw that Cleite was creating tornadoes to break through the demons. Seeing Yan, Wudao, and Nathair through the crowd of demons, I pointed at them and yelled, "Over there guys!" Pulling Dao with me, we forced our way towards them.

When we finally made it to them, we all stood back to back while looking at the horde of demons around us.

"Well this will be interesting . . ." Dao said.

The next thing we knew, Cleite landed next to us.

"Nice of you to drop in Cleite," Wudao smirked.

"I know it's such an honor," Cleite replied with a little bow.

With that said, we all faced the demons who surrounded us. "Well, let's go!" Yan yelled as he charged forward with a spear. With that we all ran towards the enemy and engaged them. Cleite would sometimes fly into the air and send air cuts that would slice demons apart in a wave. Nathair double teamed demons with his snakes. His snakes would bite the demons and the poison in their fangs would stun the demons long enough for Nathair to quickly subdue them. Wudao used a flurry of strong kicks and punches to destroy the demons that she encountered. Dao had gotten a hold of some rocks and he was hurling them towards the demons. Somehow, they all pierced vital spots like their necks, brains, and hearts without fail. Entering into the fray, I summoned fire to engulf the demons and burn them into ashes.

This went on for a while and I was getting tired. Right when I thought that my body would give out, I heard a loud battle cry. Looking towards the palace, I saw that Kuma and Tanken were leading a bunch of the royal guards into battle. With a renewed determination, I fought against the demons a bit harder. A demon that was going to kill me died when Tanken threw a dagger into it.

I nodded my thanks to Tanken and he nodded back to me. Kuma ended up next to Wudao and they were in the middle of a horde of demons. Calmly, they stood back to back. Then at the same time, they ran forward and killed one demon. Using the force of their kicks/punches, they flew backwards to each other and used each other's momentum to fly back towards the demons.

"Kasai! Over here!" Dao said as he waved at me. Forcing my way over to him, I saw that he held a small round pebble. "I have an idea. When I throw this, can you set it on fire?"

"Um sure?" I said unsurely.

"Trust me!" Dao replied.

Wordlessly, I nodded.

Dao readied his arm and threw the pebble as hard as he could. As the pebble flew, I made fire engulf it. Cleite, seeing what was happening from above, sent a strong wind that made the fire on the pebble increase drastically in size. Each demon that the pebble touched was engulfed in flame and hurled back.

Dao winked at me, "See Kasai! Teamwork!"

I smiled, "Y-yeah!"

The royal guards helped to defeat many of the demons and helped to even the odds between us. After a while, all the demons were gone. Gasping for air, I leaned on Dao who was breathing somewhat heavily.

Suddenly, all the soldiers stood at attention and we looked around and saw why. The king was standing on a balcony at the palace. We all hushed and listened to what he had to say.

"I just received a message from Rida".

The crowd around us erupted in chatter.

"Silence!" the king ordered. Silence fell. He continued, "He says that the amount of demons that came today, is only a fraction of the demons that he and Gadalka possesses".

I whispered to Dao, "That's crazy! The demons we fought, it's only a fraction of the main force???"

"I know right. That's hard to even comprehend," Dao whispered back.

King Kashikoi said, "If I do not surrender the kingdom to him, he will kill me and everyone of my lineage so he can usurp the throne."

We all fell into a shocked silence at what he announced to us.

I looked at Dao with worry and his face mirrored my fear.

Description
Breaking the silence, Yan asked us all, "So what are we going to do?"

"Isn't it obvious? We have to stop Rida!" Cleite said with fury in her eyes.

I looked at everyone in the circle and they all looked conflicted.

Cleite continued, "I mean, we've been protecting everyone from the demons, so why should we stop now? This kingdom is fine without us in control of the government".

"But do you really want to end up like Lina?" Tanken asked quietly.

"That's why we won't lose! We have to win!" Dao said while punching the ground.

Yan looked around and asked us in a serious voice, "So are we all in agreement to stop Rida?"

After a long pause, we all nodded "yes". Yan sighed and said, "Then we'll return to the king to give him our answer. Then we'll train for the next five days. Then we'll find a way to stop Rida".

In oppressive silence, we went back to the throne room and bowed to the king. When we stood back up, he asked us, "What have you decided on?"

"We have decided to fight against Rida and Gadalka," Yan replied. The people in the room let out a collective sigh of relief at our answer.

Nodding ever so slightly, King Kashikoi said, "In the next few days, we will meet and discuss our next moves. We need to stop Rida and Gadalka. For the sake of everyone".

Solemnly we all nodded in agreement.

Speaking up, Yan requested, "May we have time to bury a fallen comrade now?"

The king only nodded and dismissed us. We walked back to the caravan where Lina's body was resting. Kuma and Wudao gently carried Lina's body to the cemetery behind the palace. When we finally had her buried in her coffin, we stood in silence in front of her grave.

Quietly, Yan said a few words, "We stand here today as a fallen member of our family has been cruelly taken away from us. Even though she had only been with us for a few days, she was a full member of our troop, our family. Her power electrified all the people who witnessed it and she always had a way to make us smile. In honor of her memory, we stand here today. We may never see each other again in this life, but we will definitely meet again in the next life".

After Yan stopped speaking, tears were streaming down everyone's faces. I didn't know it would hurt this much to lose her because we only met a few days ago, but she already felt like she was a sister. Clenching my fists at my side, I promised myself that I would stop Rida and avenge Lina's death.

We stood in front of Lina's gravestone for a while, each of us in our own little worlds as we thought about our situation. In a mere five days, we'll be fighting Rida and Gadalka.

Sitting in my room, Cleite, Dao, Tanken and I were trying to pass the time by playing a board game while Yan was filling in the king about what Rida told us. I glanced down at the board and frowned as I saw that I was last. We were playing a popular board game called "Angels Rising". The point of the game to equip your 'angel' with all angelic weapons and armor. Each player rolls a dice and then moves the number of spaces that was rolled. The spaces on the board contain good, bad, and neutral slots which can help you gain weapons/armor or take away weapons/armor. Some spaces are challenge spaces where you can challenge another player to a 'duel'. Whoever rolls the higher number can steal a weapon or armor from the loser. The first player to equip their angel with all the weapons and armor wins.

I rolled the dice and got a seven. Moving my piece seven spaces, I landed on another bad space. This space made me give up one turn. I sighed as I looked at everyone else. Cleite was the closet to winning with Tanken in a close second. I handed the dice over to Dao.

He rolled the dice and got a nine. His angel landed on a challenge space. Grinning, he stood up and pointed at Cleite and said dramatically, "I CHALLENGE YOU CLEITE TO A DUEL!!!"

With an evil grin Cleite replied, "Challenge accepted!"

Since Dao was the challenger, he rolled the dice first and got a ten. With a smirk he handed Cleite the dice and said, "Just try to beat that Cleite!"

"Don't worry I will," Cleite said calmly as she shook the dice in her hands. With a glint in her eyes, she rolled the dice and rolled a twelve. Pointing at Dao she said, "HA! Now hand over the angelic spear!" She waggled her hand out towards Dao and he huffed in annoyance as he handed over the piece. Grinning, Cleite said, "Now I just need the angelic helmet to win!"

Tanken then took the dice and rolled them. He got a eight and landed in a blank space. Cleite then took the dice and as she rolled them, the door to my room opened with a bang as Kuma came barging in.

"Guys! We have trouble!" he exclaimed as he walked in with a frantic look on his face.

"What's happened?" Dao asked concerned.

"Demons have started to attack the castle!" Kuma replied, still panicking.

"WHAT???" we all exclaimed in shock.

"I'll explain as we go!" Kuma then left the room. Before following him, Cleite said with a smirk, "I win!" as she took the angelic helmet from the board. I glanced at the board and saw that Cleite had landed on a space that let the person take any weapon/armor that they needed.

We then rushed out of the apartment and followed Kuma to a tall tower where we saw hordes and hordes of demons running towards the palace. They had completely ignored the market and the houses and were coming straight towards the palace.

"Yan, Wudao, and Nathair are already down there ready to fight them. I'm going to go tell the king about this! You guys go down there and help them!" Kuma ordered us. He then nodded at us and ran out of the tower.

Cleite then asked us, "Ok! I can only carry two people with me down there. So that means that one person has to find another way down!"

Tanken looked at each other and grinned. They then did "rock, paper, scissors" which Tanken lost. Without a word, Tanken ran out of the tower. Cleite then grabbed both Dao and I and jumped out of the tower. With a fwip Cleite's wings flapped open and we were flying. Cleite soared down and told us, "I'm gonna drop you guys in 3 . . ."

We got closer to the ground.

"2 . . ."

I prepared myself for a rough landing.

"1 . . ."

I closed my eyes.

"Now!"

I then felt Cleite let go of us. We weren't to far from the ground so Dao and I landed somewhat easily to the ground. Looking up I saw that Cleite was creating tornadoes to break through the demons. Seeing Yan, Wudao, and Nathair through the crowd of demons, I pointed at them and yelled, "Over there guys!" Pulling Dao with me, we forced our way towards them.

When we finally made it to them, we all stood back to back while looking at the horde of demons around us.

"Well this will be interesting . . ." Dao said.

The next thing we knew, Cleite landed next to us.

"Nice of you to drop in Cleite," Wudao smirked.

"I know it's such an honor," Cleite replied with a little bow.

With that said, we all faced the demons who surrounded us. "Well, let's go!" Yan yelled as he charged forward with a spear. With that we all ran towards the enemy and engaged them. Cleite would sometimes fly into the air and send air cuts that would slice demons apart in a wave. Nathair double teamed demons with his snakes. His snakes would bite the demons and the poison in their fangs would stun the demons long enough for Nathair to quickly subdue them. Wudao used a flurry of strong kicks and punches to destroy the demons that she encountered. Dao had gotten a hold of some rocks and he was hurling them towards the demons. Somehow, they all pierced vital spots like their necks, brains, and hearts without fail. Entering into the fray, I summoned fire to engulf the demons and burn them into ashes.

This went on for a while and I was getting tired. Right when I thought that my body would give out, I heard a loud battle cry. Looking towards the palace, I saw that Kuma and Tanken were leading a bunch of the royal guards into battle. With a renewed determination, I fought against the demons a bit harder. A demon that was going to kill me died when Tanken threw a dagger into it.

I nodded my thanks to Tanken and he nodded back to me. Kuma ended up next to Wudao and they were in the middle of a horde of demons. Calmly, they stood back to back. Then at the same time, they ran forward and killed one demon. Using the force of their kicks/punches, they flew backwards to each other and used each other's momentum to fly back towards the demons.

"Kasai! Over here!" Dao said as he waved at me. Forcing my way over to him, I saw that he held a small round pebble. "I have an idea. When I throw this, can you set it on fire?"

"Um sure?" I said unsurely.

"Trust me!" Dao replied.

Wordlessly, I nodded.

Dao readied his arm and threw the pebble as hard as he could. As the pebble flew, I made fire engulf it. Cleite, seeing what was happening from above, sent a strong wind that made the fire on the pebble increase drastically in size. Each demon that the pebble touched was engulfed in flame and hurled back.

Dao winked at me, "See Kasai! Teamwork!"

I smiled, "Y-yeah!"

The royal guards helped to defeat many of the demons and helped to even the odds between us. After a while, all the demons were gone. Gasping for air, I leaned on Dao who was breathing somewhat heavily.

Suddenly, all the soldiers stood at attention and we looked around and saw why. The king was standing on a balcony at the palace. We all hushed and listened to what he had to say.

"I just received a message from Rida".

The crowd around us erupted in chatter.

"Silence!" the king ordered. Silence fell. He continued, "He says that the amount of demons that came today, is only a fraction of the demons that he and Gadalka possesses".

I whispered to Dao, "That's crazy! The demons we fought, it's only a fraction of the main force???"

"I know right. That's hard to even comprehend," Dao whispered back.

King Kashikoi said, "If I do not surrender the kingdom to him, he will kill me and everyone of my lineage so he can usurp the throne."

We all fell into a shocked silence at what he announced to us.

I looked at Dao with worry and his face mirrored my fear.