THE ZODIAC BRAVE ALLIANCE
^ _ ` a b c d e f g h i

Chapter 3: The Warriors Awaken

What the four found instead of a loving home filled with food and a memory…was a burning house.

"Mom….!!!" Pharda screamed, and charged forward into the flames.

"Pharda!!" Andomiel yelled after him, but it was too late, he was beyond reach.

Andomiel turned back to his new comrades, "We gotta get him out of there!"

"I’ll fly up to see if his mother’s on the top floor…" Fenris took off.

"I’m coming with you!!" Urd said. And the two followed Pharda.

Hiding his face from the bright flames, Pharda marched up the steps, the place was about to fall apart, he knew, but for the sake of his mother, he would go anywhere. He felt his lungs blackening from the smoke, but he didn't care. As long as his mother was alive, he knew he could do anything.

That’s when he found her. But not alone.

What looked like a white winged demon woman, stood directly in the center of the room, facing his mother. The thing screamed like a banshee.

"Where is it!!!!" The thing sounded unearthly, yet maintained a femininity all its own. The creature seemed to be a blood red angel, but wings white and bat-like. Silvery hair strung about like tendrils in all directions.

“For the last time, where is Legacy!!!?” The thing bellowed, and with one long-clawed hand, backhanded Pharda’s mother.

This was all Pharda could take, in a rage, he charged forward, despite the flames and burns rushing through his skin, despite the intense blinding heat. He thrust out his Murasame.

“Mother!!!”

The blade found its way lengthwise into the thing’s side. But oddly enough, the being didn’t even flinch. Shocked beyond words, Pharda was too paralyzed to move.

“So you’re one of the descendants…” The bloody angel retorted, “It’s been a while since I felt any pain, I’ll savor it, till my vengeance is complete, in the meantime, I’ll give you a good reason to hate me…”

His tears were now steam against his face from the heat. What he witnessed next would changed his soul from a happy-go-lucky young boy who loved swords to a full fledged samurai. And with that the red demon/angel extended a blood-red finger like a tendril and pierced it into his mother’s side with a sickening wet thrust.

“…NO!!!”

“You really don’t know who you are, do you, boy? Well maybe your mother can explain things before she dies…”

“YOU MONSTER!!!!” Pharda twisted his blade in her side with a lurch and pulled it out, preparing to behead the thing. Suddenly the demon caught the blade edgewise mid swing.

“You seem to misunderstand, I give you an ultimatum: Find those like you and try to defeat me.”

“Those…like me?” It took a minute to register what that meant.

Before he could answer she backhanded him like she had his mother and both lay along side each other in a heap, only the other bleeding to death among stray flames.

“I am Altima; we will fight someday, boy, but for now, let’s see if you can survive your own house falling down on you, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !!!!”

Spreading her ashen-white wings, she flew through a hole in the burning roof, in the darkness. Andomiel and Urd broke through the door, and Fenris flew down through the hole in the ceiling.

“Pharda, what happened!!!” Andomiel shouted.

“Fenris get her outta here!!!” Pharda said suddenly.

“She’s bleeding…,” Fenris said.

“We all need to get out, the house is going to collapse, come on!!”

And with a quick run back downstairs through the flames, the party made it out okay, but not without incident.

“Mother…”

“Dear boys…, there’s nothing you can do for me…but know this, under that house are three great holy weapons; passed down from generations down the line, I’ve…been protecting it for my family, from her: for years. One of those weapons is designed to ultimately kill her, that’s why she burned down the house looking for the weapons. She’s killing me because she couldn’t find them. It is absolutely important that you find those weapons….I…don’t have much time left…”

“Mom…please don’t go…” Pharda pleaded.

“You’ll always be my brave little warrior, Pharda, never forget that, and never forget who you are, descendants of the Zodiac Braves…”

“What?!!” Pharda and the group were in shock, even Urd and Andomiel.

“Yes, all four of you are descendants of the legendary Zodiac Braves, even you, Fenris…”

Fenris was taken aback, “But you know nothing about me!!”

Pharda’s mother smiled, albeit weakly, “Yes I do, I foresaw in a dream a mighty Dragoon would rescue me from hot flames, you’re the one…”

Urd pointed at herself, “What about me?”

She smiled yet again, “Anyone who is a close friend of Pharda’s, is a brave, remember that…,”

“Mother…what about the stones…, the legend,” Pharda pleaded, bloodlust on his mind.

“Lost to time, I’m afraid…you’ll have to get them back, over time they may have collected powers beyond your comprehension, so do be careful……I…..am….,”

“Shhhhh…..mother….,” Pharda softly cradled his mother for the last time in his arms, crying and praying a soft prayer for vengeance.

“….Pharda…., forget about your father, use the Murasame….go with your friends…find the stones…I…will always be with you….son…” and with a final sigh, she was gone.

“….Aaaaaltimaaaaaaaa!!!!!!” Pharda screamed in pain and anguish, his rage carried on the winds scaring a flock of crows in a nearby tree.

And to the rest…there was little comfort...

On to Chapter 4 >>>>

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