Spirit Game

"Druger, we're nearing the town."

Druger opened his eyes and blinked, momentarily blinded by the bright light. As his vision cleared, he saw the town growing larger on the horizon, its outline becoming more distinct.

"Wake up everyone! Prepare for battle!" Lyncon ordered, his voice booming as he blew the horn, signaling that the town was within reach.

By now, the town's guards had spotted them, and the chimes of alarm bells echoed from the watchtowers, reverberating through the air with an urgent, ominous tone.

"Are you ready?" Druger asked Lyncon as they rode side by side.

Lyncon was gripping the detonator, his knuckles white from the pressure, while Druger clutched the flare tightly, ready to signal everyone inside the town to blow up the warships and start the attack if things didn't go as planned.

Lyncon's face was solemn, his eyes reflecting a determined resolve. "I've been ready since the very beginning."

"If things don't go our way . . . let's meet in another life, friend," Druger said, his voice tinged with a mix of sadness and steely determination.

Lyncon smiled, though his eyes were heavy with emotion. "Yes, let's."

The two shared a knowing silence. They knew this could be their last, their final moment of peace before the chaos of war enveloped them.

They had been through so much together. Both robbed by war, they had started to build the fishing village through blood and sweat until it turned into a port town.

They shared so many laughs and sleepless nights, constructing their dreams from the ground up. They had confided in each other, and knew each other's' pain. They shared their lives over good booze every night, their bond growing stronger with every hardship faced and every joy celebrated.

Now, as they stood on the precipice of battle, the weight of their shared history pressed heavily on their hearts, making the impending conflict all the more heartbreaking.

War was an ugly thing, but through it, they hoped to reclaim everything that had been stolen from them — their home, their freedom, their dignity.

As they pulled away, they both took a moment to steel themselves. Druger looked at the flare in his hand, knowing that it held the power to ignite the spark of their rebellion.

Lyncon glanced at the detonator, ready to kill Izu when necessary.

The sound of the alarm bells grew louder, and the air was thick with tension.

Druger and Lyncon exchanged one last, resolute nod before they spurred their horses forward, leading their people into the closed gate. They were ready to fight, ready to sacrifice, and ready to reclaim what was rightfully theirs.

Cannons and ballistas peeked through the towers, and Ebizo archers manned the battlements.

"HALT!"

Druger and everyone else halted in their tracks, just hundreds of meters away from the town.

"What's the meaning of this, Druger?" one of the Ebizo soldiers demanded. He was armed differently from the rest. The crest over his breastplate signaling his rank as the captain of the guards.

Druger didn't say anything at first. Instead, he flipped his hand, revealing Izu, bound in magical ropes.

"We're here to see Lord Izumi! Tell him to come out, or we will kill his son!" Druger declared. "As you can see, this isn't a negotiation or a joke. One wrong move and you can say goodbye to your precious young lord."

The Ebizo soldiers murmured atop the battlements while the leader of the guards narrowed his eyes.

"You think you can threaten the mighty Ebizo soldiers?" the guard captain asked.

"And do you think we're bluffing?!" Druger raised his hand again. "On my signal, we will blow up this kid!"

Izu's eyes bulged, and he shouted at the captain of the guards. "Idiots! Do as he says! Go and get Father! If something happens to me, I will have you and your entire family and all your descendants until the very last generation chop into sashimi!"

The leader of the guards frowned but then relented. "Wait right there. Don't hurt Lord Izu, or all our projectiles will rain down upon you!"

Druger sighed in relief, but his limbs continued to shake. No matter what Lord Izumi decided, there was no turning back.

After a few tense moments, the gate opened, and the captain of the guards returned. "Enter. Lord Izumi will see you inside."

Druger and Lyncon exchanged another look while the rebels in the back started a round of murmurs.

"We shouldn't."

"They surely have laid traps inside."

"We can't fight inside. The devastation would be great. The townspeople would get entangled in the fight."

"We can't go in."

Druger knew that as well, that's why he shouted, "We will wait here for Lord Izumi to talk to us!"

At that, the captain of the guards got angry. "Don't push your luck, dwarf! Your puny army won't be a match for us. Lord Izumi said to meet you inside, so you will go inside–"

"SILENCE!"

A loud, booming voice shook the ground and air. Druger and the others gasped while the weaker ones fell to their knees, the voice ringing inside their ears.

All the Ebizo soldiers went down on one knee as a giant Zuwai, garbed in grand robes, appeared. His menacing aura sent shivers to everyone who saw him, his presence filling their hearts with awe.

"Lord Izumi!"

Druger pushed back against the crushing force of Izumi's presence. He had only seen the Zuwai Lord twice — once when he first appeared, and the second was now.

Each time, his presence was overwhelming, as if it could crush them beneath his commanding gaze alone.

"Speak. What is it that you want?" Izumi said, face hard as his centuries' old shell.

Druger swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to steady his voice. "We have your son! We've strapped a lot of explosives around him that will surely reduce him to dust! If you want him back alive and intact, make an oath right here and now that you, your race, and all your troops will leave this town and never set foot here again!"

Lord Izumi's expression didn't change one bit. "And if I won't?"

Silence settled between them, so heavy that a pin drop could be heard.

Druger met Lord Izumi's serious gaze. "Then it's WAR! Blood will be spilled, both yours and ours."

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