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Description
Chaos erupted at what the king told us as the soldiers talked among themselves as they tried to process the new information through their minds.

King Kashikoi held up a hand to silence them and as silence fell he said calmly, "I have no intention of giving up my throne or dying".

At that the soldier let out a cheer.

He continued, "Even at this moment, me and my generals are coming up with a plan to stop Rida and Gadalka and protect the kingdom. As we speak, we are gathering the civilians and sending them to a safer place father from the palace since Rida will aim to make this palace fall."

I looked at Dao and Cleite. Cleite looked extremely worried, probably about Prince Regius.

"Along with the civilians, I am having Prince Regius go along with them. So even if I should die, my lineage will continue on," King Kashikoi added much to the relief of Cleite as she visibly sighed. Everyone else seemed to sigh in relief too. With a sweep of his cape, the king went back into the palace.

Cleite remembering what was happening, dragged Dao and I back towards the palace.

Dao complaining said, "Calm down Cleite!"

She whipped around and snapped back, "How can I stay calm when Rida is planning to destroy everything?!"

"Yeah but charging in without a plan won't help. Let the king and his generals do what they do best," Dao rationalized trying to placate Cleite.

Cleite sighed in frustration and said, "I know . . . I just . . . "

"If you're so worried why don't we see what they are planning? I mean we'll probably have a huge part to play in what's to come," I suggested.

Dao and Cleite nodded. While on our way down to the secret general meeting, we met up with the other members of the Laylania troop. Well, what was left anyway.

Entering the room, the king looked at us and said, "Thank you for today".

"We'll be facing more in the future apparently," Yan said with a dark voice.

Everyone in the room cringed.

"As I was saying earlier, Rida is expecting the rest of his old troop to give him an answer in five days. What if we strike him earlier, maybe in the next two days?" one of the old generals suggested.

Rubbing his chin, the king replied, "That could work, but can we get enough man power to beat all the demons that quickly?"

Another general nodded, "We sent word to our troops around the area and the majority of them will be back in two to three days".

Looking at us, the king asked us, "Can you be ready to fight the thousands of demons Rida has in three days?"

We all looked at each other. Speaking for all of us, Yan replied, "Whether it be five days or three, we will always be ready to fight to protect this kingdom".

We all nodded in agreement.

King Kashikoi nodded his head and heaved a sigh. He then set a little statue of a banner on the map at the cave Rida was hiding in. Whispering to himself he said, "This means war my old friend".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the meeting with the generals and the king, we all went back to the apartment and laid around the living room area.

I sighed. So many things have happened to me, it felt like a great dream. Being with everyone as one big happy family. Just when I was starting to really feel like I'd found my family, Rida shattered it like he threw a rock at a still pond.

I glanced over at Cleite who was sprawled out on a couch and she looked crushed and conflicted. Turning my head in the other direction, Dao was sitting sideways on a chair and he had his eyes closed as he was lost in thought. I saw that Tanken was leaning against the door to his room and he was staring into space. Wudao and Kuma were sitting next to other on a couch and they were whispering to each other. Nathair was sitting in a chair with his snakes around his arms and he was just looking into their eyes. The only one who wasn't here was Yan, he was still with the king and his generals finalizing the plan.

In frustration Cleite jumped up and yelled, "I can't take it anymore!" She paced around the floor and complained, "All this waiting! And for what? Rida to make more of those monsters? We just can't stay here and let him get away with what he's doing!"

"Yeah and what can we do without a plan?" Dao replied still with his eyes closed.

"We could always wing it!" Cleite said flustered.

"And what? Fail?" Dao said as he opened his eyes and looked at his sister.

Interrupting them, Wudao said, "Remember guys, Gadalka can see the future. We need to be careful about what we do and how we do them".

That brought silence back onto the conversation.

"But what if Gadalka knows that the king plans to attack him in three days? What then?" Cleite argued after a brief pause.

"But what if she knows that we're going to change our tactics?" Wudao replied.

"Gah! This is hurting my head!" Cleite yelled as she shook her head and fell back onto the couch.

Wudao said quietly, "Cleite, you're not the only one who feels hurt about Rida's and Gadalka's betrayal. We all feel hurt".

"Yeah but-"

"No buts Cleite! We all were in some shit hole before Rida and Gadalka found us and took us in. You aren't the only one who found safety and a family within Laylania," Wudao snapped at Cleite.

The room fell into a shocked silence.

Wudao continued, "I know that Kuma and I have never exactly been talkative about our pasts . . . but we too also were in a bad place before Rida and Gadalka saved us".

Curious, I sat up a bit straighter and looked at Kuma and Wudao. Wudao held everyone's attention as we all were curious to learn more about their pasts.

"Well, before we joined Laylania, we were in a kingdom far from this one. Let's say that in that kingdom, those who had angelic marks were treated like exotic animals. Things that were meant to be captured and displayed for all to look at. People would pay high costs to look at us. People killed to own us," Wudao said quietly.

I wanted to know what kingdom she was talking about but I felt like it would be rude of me to interrupt her.

Kuma picked up the story, "So as angelic mark bearers, we were constantly moved around from place to place as entertainment for whoever owned us. Sure we were treated special since we were the only bearers around for miles, but we were always treated as something not human. Like animals".

"Originally we were by ourselves, but one day we happened to be bought by the same man," Wudao winced as she said this. "He probably treated us the worst than all the other 'owners' we had. Whenever he wanted to show us off to his guests, I would always 'entertain' them with my dancing while Kuma always did the heavy work by bringing in their luggage and whatnot."

Kuma continued, "This lasted for a few years. Sure we tried to escape a few times together but we were always caught and dragged back to that hell hole by the military. At that time, we weren't fully aware of our powers, so we always were beaten by the military."

"Then things changed when a small carnival group came to our kingdom. The leader of the troop requested to meet with our 'esteemed' owner because he was curious about the 'exotic creatures' he owned. That's how we first met Rida," Wudao said. "After he confirmed that we were angelic mark bearers, he came to us in secret and told us what we were. And gave us the option of joining him and his carnival troop".

Shrugging his shoulders, Kuma said, "Of course we wanted out of that place, so we agreed. The next night when Rida came to visit along with his troop, they broke us out. Rida brought along Yan and Gadalka and they held off the military as we escaped. Once we left that kingdom and entered this one, we never returned."

After they finished their story, we were all silent.

"See Cleite, Rida and Gadalka saved us from whatever fate we would've had if we stayed there. You and Dao aren't the only ones who were saved. We all feel hurt right now and the best thing we can do is to keep a clear head and try to find a way to stop Rida and his insane plan," Wudao said as she looked at Cleite with determined eyes.

Yan burst into the room and looked at us all. "We have a slight change of plans".

Description
Chaos erupted at what the king told us as the soldiers talked among themselves as they tried to process the new information through their minds.

King Kashikoi held up a hand to silence them and as silence fell he said calmly, "I have no intention of giving up my throne or dying".

At that the soldier let out a cheer.

He continued, "Even at this moment, me and my generals are coming up with a plan to stop Rida and Gadalka and protect the kingdom. As we speak, we are gathering the civilians and sending them to a safer place father from the palace since Rida will aim to make this palace fall."

I looked at Dao and Cleite. Cleite looked extremely worried, probably about Prince Regius.

"Along with the civilians, I am having Prince Regius go along with them. So even if I should die, my lineage will continue on," King Kashikoi added much to the relief of Cleite as she visibly sighed. Everyone else seemed to sigh in relief too. With a sweep of his cape, the king went back into the palace.

Cleite remembering what was happening, dragged Dao and I back towards the palace.

Dao complaining said, "Calm down Cleite!"

She whipped around and snapped back, "How can I stay calm when Rida is planning to destroy everything?!"

"Yeah but charging in without a plan won't help. Let the king and his generals do what they do best," Dao rationalized trying to placate Cleite.

Cleite sighed in frustration and said, "I know . . . I just . . . "

"If you're so worried why don't we see what they are planning? I mean we'll probably have a huge part to play in what's to come," I suggested.

Dao and Cleite nodded. While on our way down to the secret general meeting, we met up with the other members of the Laylania troop. Well, what was left anyway.

Entering the room, the king looked at us and said, "Thank you for today".

"We'll be facing more in the future apparently," Yan said with a dark voice.

Everyone in the room cringed.

"As I was saying earlier, Rida is expecting the rest of his old troop to give him an answer in five days. What if we strike him earlier, maybe in the next two days?" one of the old generals suggested.

Rubbing his chin, the king replied, "That could work, but can we get enough man power to beat all the demons that quickly?"

Another general nodded, "We sent word to our troops around the area and the majority of them will be back in two to three days".

Looking at us, the king asked us, "Can you be ready to fight the thousands of demons Rida has in three days?"

We all looked at each other. Speaking for all of us, Yan replied, "Whether it be five days or three, we will always be ready to fight to protect this kingdom".

We all nodded in agreement.

King Kashikoi nodded his head and heaved a sigh. He then set a little statue of a banner on the map at the cave Rida was hiding in. Whispering to himself he said, "This means war my old friend".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the meeting with the generals and the king, we all went back to the apartment and laid around the living room area.

I sighed. So many things have happened to me, it felt like a great dream. Being with everyone as one big happy family. Just when I was starting to really feel like I'd found my family, Rida shattered it like he threw a rock at a still pond.

I glanced over at Cleite who was sprawled out on a couch and she looked crushed and conflicted. Turning my head in the other direction, Dao was sitting sideways on a chair and he had his eyes closed as he was lost in thought. I saw that Tanken was leaning against the door to his room and he was staring into space. Wudao and Kuma were sitting next to other on a couch and they were whispering to each other. Nathair was sitting in a chair with his snakes around his arms and he was just looking into their eyes. The only one who wasn't here was Yan, he was still with the king and his generals finalizing the plan.

In frustration Cleite jumped up and yelled, "I can't take it anymore!" She paced around the floor and complained, "All this waiting! And for what? Rida to make more of those monsters? We just can't stay here and let him get away with what he's doing!"

"Yeah and what can we do without a plan?" Dao replied still with his eyes closed.

"We could always wing it!" Cleite said flustered.

"And what? Fail?" Dao said as he opened his eyes and looked at his sister.

Interrupting them, Wudao said, "Remember guys, Gadalka can see the future. We need to be careful about what we do and how we do them".

That brought silence back onto the conversation.

"But what if Gadalka knows that the king plans to attack him in three days? What then?" Cleite argued after a brief pause.

"But what if she knows that we're going to change our tactics?" Wudao replied.

"Gah! This is hurting my head!" Cleite yelled as she shook her head and fell back onto the couch.

Wudao said quietly, "Cleite, you're not the only one who feels hurt about Rida's and Gadalka's betrayal. We all feel hurt".

"Yeah but-"

"No buts Cleite! We all were in some shit hole before Rida and Gadalka found us and took us in. You aren't the only one who found safety and a family within Laylania," Wudao snapped at Cleite.

The room fell into a shocked silence.

Wudao continued, "I know that Kuma and I have never exactly been talkative about our pasts . . . but we too also were in a bad place before Rida and Gadalka saved us".

Curious, I sat up a bit straighter and looked at Kuma and Wudao. Wudao held everyone's attention as we all were curious to learn more about their pasts.

"Well, before we joined Laylania, we were in a kingdom far from this one. Let's say that in that kingdom, those who had angelic marks were treated like exotic animals. Things that were meant to be captured and displayed for all to look at. People would pay high costs to look at us. People killed to own us," Wudao said quietly.

I wanted to know what kingdom she was talking about but I felt like it would be rude of me to interrupt her.

Kuma picked up the story, "So as angelic mark bearers, we were constantly moved around from place to place as entertainment for whoever owned us. Sure we were treated special since we were the only bearers around for miles, but we were always treated as something not human. Like animals".

"Originally we were by ourselves, but one day we happened to be bought by the same man," Wudao winced as she said this. "He probably treated us the worst than all the other 'owners' we had. Whenever he wanted to show us off to his guests, I would always 'entertain' them with my dancing while Kuma always did the heavy work by bringing in their luggage and whatnot."

Kuma continued, "This lasted for a few years. Sure we tried to escape a few times together but we were always caught and dragged back to that hell hole by the military. At that time, we weren't fully aware of our powers, so we always were beaten by the military."

"Then things changed when a small carnival group came to our kingdom. The leader of the troop requested to meet with our 'esteemed' owner because he was curious about the 'exotic creatures' he owned. That's how we first met Rida," Wudao said. "After he confirmed that we were angelic mark bearers, he came to us in secret and told us what we were. And gave us the option of joining him and his carnival troop".

Shrugging his shoulders, Kuma said, "Of course we wanted out of that place, so we agreed. The next night when Rida came to visit along with his troop, they broke us out. Rida brought along Yan and Gadalka and they held off the military as we escaped. Once we left that kingdom and entered this one, we never returned."

After they finished their story, we were all silent.

"See Cleite, Rida and Gadalka saved us from whatever fate we would've had if we stayed there. You and Dao aren't the only ones who were saved. We all feel hurt right now and the best thing we can do is to keep a clear head and try to find a way to stop Rida and his insane plan," Wudao said as she looked at Cleite with determined eyes.

Yan burst into the room and looked at us all. "We have a slight change of plans".