Baka-Tsuki - User contributions [en]

Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 5

2013-06-21T21:03:00Z

68.111.158.48:

(PART 2)

Out of the dust cloud shoots Belphegor at immense speed, he is flying forward with his hand surrounded by a blue light pointing at Rage.

Rage lifts his scythe and Belphegor's hand slams into the handle of it, Rage thinks that he has stopped the full brunt of the force but he still finds himself blown backwards past his onlooking comrades and he crashes violently into one of the houses carved into a rock.

"Gbbbhhh!"

He winces and as soon as he opens his eyes he sees the light of Belphegor's hand just inches in front of his face, Rage ducks to the side and narrowly avoids a strike that demolishes the solid rock house directly behind him.

Swinging his blade upward it nips a few strands of Belphegor's messy hair causing him to back away. Belphegor takes a deep breath and his cheeks become quite large, once at its maximum air capacity, he lets out a blast that matches the color of his eyes.

Rage lifts his scythe and raises his black cloud from the ground to shield himself, only to have it blown away when both forces seem to negate themselves.

Once visibility was returned after the light of the blast, Belphegor is once again inside Rage's guard. He uppercuts his blue light covered hand into Rage's gut, causing Rage to cough out blood and literally fly hundreds of yards away.

The blue light surrounding certain extremities of Belphegor's body fades and it now seems that he is relaxed when he yawns and stretches out his arms.

With a loud sigh he says, "Huuaaaaahh man.... This kind of thing is such a bother."

To the left of him is a large piece of broken building that in his eyes actually looks comfortable, so he takes a seat and glares at the onlooking humans.

Cyrus and Sora guard the group with their swords out, and Belphegor finds this amusing. "Do you guys actually think you'd be able to do anything to me?" He stands and takes a couple steps toward them and says, "Don't you find pointless effort to be tiresome? It would be much easier if you'd just sleep."

Once again, he is using that same twisted logic to try to convince them into giving in, allowing him to collect their souls. Of course, just by saying this the chances are that most people wouldn't take him seriously, but it truly is just like the hypnotizing tactic that Sora had thought. His words can send a person with the slightest thought of taking the easy way out into a trance, and they end up agreeing wholeheartedly until they reach a death similar to the people in the destroyed town hall.

Out of all the humans, one is caught in this trance, and it is none other than one most weary of this entire ordeal, Xavier.

"Yeah it would be..." he says as he walks to Belphegor.

"What are you doing?" asks Luke with a face full of concern.

His words fall on deaf ears as Xavier keeps moving forward.

"Grab him!" Phoenix shouts.

Luke jumps to the act and attempts to do so, but Xavier seems to weigh a ton and he is doing no good in stopping him.

Belphegor laughs as he holds out his hand and gestures his index finger like one would if they were asking someone to come, this motion seems like it has an effect on the young prince like a hooked fish on a fishing pole.

"Very good, I can give you peace at mind, I can free you from all of this boorish effort, just unload that weight onto my shoulders kid."

Looking closely, one can see that Xavier is starting to dry out and shrivel, if in this state much longer, he will surely die. Both Luke, Phoenix and Cyrus are holding him with all of their might but to no avail.

Sora knows that she must do something immediately so she decides on a daring move. She rushes Belphegor and swings both of her blades toward his neck, he lets it get so close that he can feel the wind hit him and as soon as it does he smiles. Sora is blown back viciously and she lands in a pile of rubble that causes a large plume of dust to rise.

Aria, who is still in shock tries her damnedest to regain her composure when she realizes that the pile of rubble her friend just landed on has numerous sharp objects just waiting to skewer someone. She shouts out Sora's name but there is no answer through the dust, all Aria can hope for is that Sora just doesn't want to talk like usual.

"What am I doing?" she asks herself when she assesses the dire situation they are in.

Rage is likely still flying in the air, Sora is likely seriously injured, Niera is likely down for the count because she is still passed out, and Xavier is more than likely about to turn into one of those disgusting corpses. That is, unless she does something about it, she stands and thinks, (I'm the only one who has the ability to fight!)

She leans to the ground, lifts a large rock and throws it at Belphegor's feet.

He pays no mind to this, thinking that it is only yet another desperate attempt at halting the capture of Xavier. But when he looks away, a flashing light stuns him.

BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

Under his feet comes an explosion that knocks everyone including Aria herself over and the plume of smoke and flames reach up more than a hundred feet.

Xavier is released from his trance, he is just a little out of breath and he wonders what had just happened while everyone takes a simultaneous sigh of relief. Aria is breathing really hard, she put all of her energy into that blast and for the object's size, she made the biggest explosion she possibly could.

After catching her breath, she runs to where Sora is and finds her laying on the pile of rubble seemingly unscathed; she is sitting extremely lucky in between three jagged metal poles that point outward. One is in between her legs, the other is just left of her side and the last is only a few inches to the right of her head.

Aria starts to laugh a little and says, "Wow, I guess it really isn't your time to go."

Sora sits their with her usual straight face, if one looked at her closely enough it would seem that she is trying to smile though she definitely isn't.

The aftermath of the explosion leaves a long trail of black smoke that is floating into the air, without a doubt no one could live after being exposed to the epicenter of such a shock-wave.

Luke walks up to Aria and grabs her hand, with a face full of relief he says, "Thank you Aria, my brother would have been a goner if it wasn't for you."

She smiles and thinks about Strauphius, she can relate to the emotion he is showing her. She is about to say something in return when she is interrupted by a voice saying,

"If you aren't strong enough to put me to sleep then you are a useless."

This voice comes from the black smoke and it is certainly the voice of Belphegor. In the smoke can be seen a blue light shining as if lighting his way through the darkness, and to everyone's dismay, the demon steps out.

He looks extremely angry at the fact that he has just lost his prey. Normally, one person's life would seem insignificant to a demon of his caliber but Belphegor survives on the sins of others, so much so that each person can give him immense strength if he or she is filled with enough of this exact 'Original Sin'.

"Interesting ability you got there girl. It's just a crying shame that this is the exact type of thing that cant harm me." He coughs and black comes out of his mouth, he cracks his neck and looks displeased for some reason. He takes a step closer to the frightened group and keeps up his laid back attitude when he asks, "You wanna know why?"

Aria jumps in front of the rest in a protective mode, she is incredibly scared and her knees are shaking. Though she is trying to hold up a brave demeanor, she knows that she is in dire straits because that explosion she sent to him was all she had.

Belphegor proceeds to walk dangerously close, "I'm sure you know that fire needs oxygen and nitrogen to ignite right? Well, I can control them."

"What? How is that even possible??" she asks as if not wanting to believe him.

He stretches his arms and sighs, "The perfect form of sleep can only be contained by the dead, and in this sleep, oxygen and nitrogen isn't needed. I give people the perfect sleep by controlling the oxygen and nitrogen in and around a human's body."

(That would explain why those people were so shriveled.) Phoenix concluded to himself. He sighs and sits on a chunk of rock and reads his bible as if nothing is going on. He smiles and says under his breath, "This is going to be interesting."

Because Belphegor can virtually manipulate air to a certain extent, he is capable of taking away the two elements needed to make a fire grow and explode, thus making her attack end up more like a harmless light show. Aria understands this and is frightened to her core, this means that no matter what she does it will be pointless.

Belphegor scratches his head and says, "Now that I've explained that much to you, don't you think it would be better if you just gave up? There's no point in putting any effort into a futile cause, so how about letting me help you?"

He takes another step closer and the breath from Aria begins escape her body.

She has let doubt fill her subconscious and Belphegor is taking advantage of it. Aria can't breath and she falls to her knees in exhaustion, her eyesight begins to fade into darkness and her body is so weak it feels as if her only strength is coming from her bones.

This feeling is exactly what the human body is like if it has been deprived of oxygen, everything but the bones in the human anatomy consists of certain things in which oxygen is absolutely vital. If it were to be taken away, the blood will clot and dry, and along with it the brain, eyes, skin and the rest of the organs, and these horrifying results are exactly being felt by Aria, who is literally having the life sucked out of her.

Belphegor starts to smile when he says, "You are almost free little girl, just a little mor------"

GAHGAAAAAAAAAAAASSHHHH!!!!!

A maddening black explosion engulfs Belphegor, once again interrupting his speech. From the sky, Rage floats down on his cloud just in the nick of time.

He points his scythe down and says, "So you can control the air huh? I never did know that, but that would explain why I flew so far away when you hit me."

Though he wasn't in attendance when Belphegor explained himself, Rage figured it out through the brute force of his attack. When one is hit there is a shock-wave of air that is created throughout the body in a natural reaction to the initial blow, that is the result of air being pushed through the creases of that area. What Belphegor does is accelerate that air to the extent where there are thousands of pounds more pressure and force to it.

Out of Rage's scythe comes a black beam of energy that relentlessly plows into the plume of smoke before allowing him to recover. This results in the rest of the group being knocked back onto the ground. However, Phoenix is still sitting on the rock, and shielding his face from the wind with his bible.

The lingering sound and other effects of Rage's attack begin to dissipate as they wait for the smoke to clear and see if the enemy is still standing, and of course, once it does they find that he is. But this time is different, he is bloodied and his gray pea coat is torn, he is standing in the same position he was in when he was trying to temp Aria as if nothing had happened.

"Well now, that's twice..." he says softly, but his voice was full of frustration.

He lifts his head up to look at Rage who is floating a little more than twenty feet above and frowns. He then lifts his hand up and the familiar blue light forms around his arm.

"Get down here."

He clinches his fist and the air around Rage's feet pulls down hard and it sends Rage spiraling violently to the ground.

"I've grown tired of playing with all of you... This troublesome job has long since worn on my patience, all I want to do is go back to sleep..."

Belphegor lowers his head and his hair covers his eyes, his shoulders tense up and he shouts, "BUT YOU PEOPLE OF EARNEST VALUES ARE GETTING IN MY WAY!!!"

He jumps up into the air and floats, he points both of his hands toward the ground bound group.

"IF YOU DON'T WANT TO ENJOY SLEEP! THEN YOU ARE ALL BETTER OFF DEAD!!"

A blue wall of light forms in front of him and is pointing ominously down at them as it grows larger and larger with each passing second.

Rage struggles to get out of his own crater and he shouts, "Every one, run as fast as you can! If you stay you'll die!"

The able bodied members of the group run away, Cyrus grabs Niera and flees, but both Aria and Sora are downed due to the injuries they had just sustained. Aria is breathing extremely hard as she tries to replenish the oxygen levels that are needed for functionality thus making a quick movement such as running impossible. Sora isn't too badly hurt but she is dreadfully stuck in the pile of rubble, she has a straight face on but there is no doubt she's nervous as to what is coming.

"Damn it all!" shouts Rage in frustration.

He runs in between the two remaining girls and raises his scythe.

"How about I give you some of the weight that the troubled people have given me throughout the years?" Belphegor says calmly with a wide smile.

By now the blue wall is so large that even the fleeing group of royals will perhaps not make it.

Belphegor throws his hand down and shouts,

"HELP YOURSELF!!"

As though his voice was a trigger, the blue wall comes falling to the ground.

BBBUUAAAAAAAAAASHHHH!!!

Once it hits it digs into the turf much like it would if an anvil is dropped into soft sand, the crater the intense weight creates is the exact size of the wall itself so around a hundred yards width and a hundred yards length. It is more than fifteen feet deep and everything that was once there is as flat as a piece of paper.

"Buaahahahaha! Now you know how much weight I am burdened with!" Belphegor yells as he laughs, he floats down to the now smooth surface and begins to look for the dead bodies.

He walks along the boundaries of the perfectly square crater and sees that there are many different body parts scattered across the ground, he figures that they are more than likely the remains of the deceased towns people. They are so flat that it literally looks like they are fake, much like a toy made of cardboard.

"Tch... There's probably no way I'll find them like this." he says as he clicks his tongue, "Well, I guess all that's left to do is to take care of the others and then I can get to sleep."

He sighs and begins to float upwards when he feels a sharp pain enter his back and out of his stomach.

Belphegor looks down and sees that there is a scythe protruding through his gut just above his naval, he coughs up blood and says, "What the fuck?"

It is none other than Rage who is the one who inflicted this wound, Belphegor is utterly puzzled as to how this is happening.

Rage can see this look on his face and explains, "You look shocked, did you not think that it was possible that I could do the same thing as you?" Rage pulls the scythe out of his body and kicks him, causing him to jolt forward and slide onto the ground. "The weight of that attack was the exemplified weight of the souls you have collected right? Well, I simply counter balanced the souls you needed for the wall with a circle of the souls I own. So when the two collided, all it did was make another crater under yours that kept us safe from your attack."

Belphegor coughs and says, "Sneaky bastard..." He struggles to stand as blood waterfalls from his wound. "But I'm not done yet."

He points at Rage and attempts to steal the oxygen from his body just like he had done with Aria. But nothing is happening, he tries even harder but it is once again failing.

"Why the fuck isn't this working!?"

Rage has a stern look on his face when he asks, "Are you trying to force me into a perfect sleep?"

Belphegor jumps back as he continues.

"That's what you did to the others, and now that I know what your power consists of, I understand how you did it, and what for." Rage takes a step closer and finishes, "A perfect sleep can only be obtained in death... Are you stupid Belphegor? I AM DEATH."

He swings his scythe and rips a black wind into Belphegor's chest, causing him to fly back and hit the crater wall at an intense speed.

"Here Sora, let me help you." Aria says as she pulls Sora from her stuck position in the rubble.

Though she doesn't say it, she waves her hand in thanks.

They crawl out of the circled crater only to find that they are in another one. They look around and see Rage walking toward Belphegor who is embedded in the crater walls, from just above where Belphegor is sticking, on the surface comes the rest of the group, excluding Niera whom Cryus had laid to rest in safety far away.

"Everyone's okay! That's great! It looks like things are finally turning our way. Right Sora?"

Sora analyzes what is happening and softly responds, "...Right..."

"There isn't anything you can do that will affect me Belphegor." Rage said in a scolding tone of voice.

Belphegor is showing his first signs of weariness at Rage's each passing step.

"I-Is that so?"

He shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath, with this, the wound in his stomach starts to clot. He is depriving certain points of its oxygen so he doesn't bleed out.

He pulls his head out of the hole and hears footsteps along with a voice from above him.

"Hey! Are you guys okay!?"

This shout comes from a worried Cyrus.

Belphegor smiles and the pupils of his eyes shrink. "Is that so!?" he shouts, "I think I have something that will change your mind!"

From his eyes come a horrifying black blood and it falls down his face, it's as if the blood carries the sound of people crying as it drips and connects with the wound from Rage's scythe. The blood from there turns black as well and the sounds of moans and screams of agony are heard as loud as if someone was yelling in their ears.

"What is this!?" Rage asks in surprise.

Aria and Sora, including the rest of the group on the surface all cover their ears to these piercing voices but it still causes them to prostrate on the ground.

Belphegor starts to laugh wildly before saying, "If you don't appreciate sleep enough to want to reach out and grab it yourselves, then how about I force it down your damn throats!?!?"

To all of them, the surrounding areas like the sky, the ground and surrounding environment all seem to melt like an abstract painting or a multicolored oozing liquid. This in and of itself is very disorientating, but there is an added effect to this when it feels that all of their hearts are being grabbed at by thousands of little hands.

Only a moment later, everything is black and the maddening screaming and moans completely stop, every last one of them including Rage is stuck in this atmosphere.

"What's going on?" Rages asks to himself as he tries to look around, this is the definition of an out of body experience and it is something that he is certainly not used to.

This is making him nervous, he doesn't see anyone else around and fears that they could be attacked and killed if he doesn't get out of this place, little does he know that the rest of them are in the same predicament.

Rage tries to walk but he holds no friction and cannot move, "Damn it! I have to get out of here quickly."

As if on cue with his words, the black that surrounds him disappears in a blink of an eye and he falls. He lands on what seems to be a thin metal floor due to the loud thud he caused once he landed, before he can open up his eyes he can hear five more similar thuds behind him. He turns to look but his attention is first grabbed by where he is, he is in a four by four metal room and each wall has a door in it.

"Oww my butt.... Where are we?"

This voice comes from Aria, who is rubbing her behind as she looks around and sees the windowless blood stained and rusted walls that surround them.

Rage stands and tries to assess the situation but even he is beyond confused, the whole group and himself have been brought to this odd place, they were in the outside environment just seconds earlier.

"Well I guess there's only one way to find out." says Rage as he reaches for the door handle on the north side of the wall.

He turns the handle and decides to open the large door as quickly as possible, and as soon as he does the same familiar and horrid screaming is once heard, but this time it is amplified as if coming from a loud speaker at point blank.

The mere sound makes Xavier throw up in the corner, but the sight is far worse than anything imaginable. There are four main colors that can be seen all in darker tint, black, brown, red and gray. Cages, cells to be more precise, line in an endless fashion for as far as the eyes can see, there is no sky but only a flickery lighted gray roof. There are no windows, just ten stories of bloodied cells on each side of this endless room. With a closer look one can see thousands of people hanging from ropes, sharp hooks and other objects of torture and death from the railings and ceiling, they are dripping blood all the way down and splashing on the blood soaked floor that bathes the thousands of sluggish people who lay limbless and thin.

This is a scene purely from Hell, and Rage honestly thinks that they have been sent there for a moment until he realizes that he'd know the feeling if it were so.

He slams the door shut and turns to the rest, hoping that they did not witness any of that and to his relief, he sees that they are once again prostrated on the floor. This is a good thing because that kind of environment would make even the most hardened man go mad, if these somewhat innocent people saw it they would easily break down mentally.

The sound of the screams completely disappeared with shutting of this thin metal door, this makes Rage even more confused as to where they are.

"Are you okay Xavier?" asks Luke while rubbing his own temples trying to relieve the headache the moans had just caused.

"What kind of freakish noise is that!?" Xavier yells with tears in his eyes as if he had just been punched in the nose.

(I hope the other doors aren't half as bad as that one...) Rage thinks to himself, he knows that they sure aren't going to get out of wherever this place is without going through one of these doors. The light flickers as he ponders which door to go through when it hits him, (This place... It's probably where Belphegor stores the souls for himself...)

He leans on the wall and intentionally bangs his head into it in frustration.

"We're in Belphegor's world now..."

"Huh? What do you mean?" asks Cyrus.

Rage takes a deep breath and replies, "This is the place where Belphegor sends the tempted souls after he collects them, which means we are in a place that only he can access."

Aria's shoulders shake when she asks, "Can we get out?"

"I don't know, but I think we can... I'm sure that we are the first ones that he had sent here with their bodies still intact. I would guess he would do that with everyone if there wasn't any downside to it, so I think we are an anomaly in this case."

Luke sighs and says, "That's good to hear."

Rage frowns and sternly says, "But there is one big problem."

The rest of them jolt as the fear level in their chests rise exponentially.

"This place... Is an unlimited power source to him, he will be ten times stronger here than he can ever be somewhere else."

Their hearts skip a beat as they think back to how strong he was before and how much more dangerous he'll be even now, they can't help but feel hopelessness in this situation. But they know that this must be done and they show faces of determination.

After coming up with a temporary game plan, they are all ready to venture into this world of Belphegor's and are standing by the east door.

Rage hold the handle and asks, "Are you all ready?"

Cyrus pushes up his dark glasses and answers with a smooth, "Yes."

Luke nervously smiles. "Y-Yeah."

Xavier cracks his fingers and puts on the front of a tough guy to hide his own fear from himself. "Yup!"

Aria swings her large sword in front of her. "Ready."

And Sora, "....."

With this they are all prepared to leave and Rage takes his first twist of his wrist on the doorknob when he feels like he is missing something. He halts and thinks for a second, it is not something, but someone, and this someone should most certainly be here if even Rage was caught.

He turns around to the group and sees that they are all looking at him in confusion as to why he hasn't opened the door, he frowns and with a tone full of seriousness asks,

"...Where's Phoenix?"

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| Back to [[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 4|Revelation]]
| Return to [[Dantega|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 6|(Part 3)]]
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Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 5

2013-06-09T05:45:43Z

68.111.158.48:

(PART 2)

Rain leisurely tosses a bag of luggage in the back of a horse drawn carriage, it makes a loud noise that startles the woman holding the reigns.

"Let's go." she says as she gets in.

The carriage woman snaps the reigns and the horses begin to move.

It's a half day's travel to the division that she'll be leading, so she decides to shut her eyes and try to sleep the time away when she hears a loud thud from the back of her seat. She turns to look at the source and sees a large duffle bag. Before she can ask herself who's bag it is, her question is answered when the carriage door opens and in comes Dice.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

Dice smiles and replies, "You didn't think I'd actually let you go to war by yourself did you?"

Rain sighs and replies, "Part of me didn't think you would, but all of me was hoping for it. Let me guess, this was your bargaining chip for your parents to consider me in doing this right?"

"That's right!"

In Eiyalazo, it is the job of the Prince to experience battle for PR points. Though he will certainly not fight, the propagandists will say that he did, and valiantly at that. This kind of thing results in the support of the people, all be it the Royals think of their citizens as primitive commoners; they understand how important it is to be in good favor with the masses.

Dice used this tactic to convince his parents for Rain's military exemption, and to add on to that he used this for his own personal need in wanting to ensure Rain's safety.

"Tch." Rain clicks her tongue in annoyance.

By him doing this it almost completely hinders her plan in personally taking revenge on whoever assassinated her father.

She leans back and looks out of the window, completely ignoring his presence, her doing this makes the half day long ride very awkward for the pitiful prince.

-------------------------

The sun is close to setting and there has yet to be a word spoken between the two, the silence was so bad it even made the driver cringe.

The driver sighs in relief when she sees the base camp just a few minutes away.

"We have arrived at our destination." she says with a smile.

Once through the gate the sight of thousands of soldiers are enclosed in a make shift wooden fort is seen and they enter into what seems like a large village. As soon as the carriage stops Rain immediately grabs her luggage and exits the door.

"Don't get in my way." she coldly says as she walks to a group of higher ups stationed in on of the tents.

Dice sighs and glances at the driver who is glaring at him like, 'Did she just say that?'.

He smiles at her and bows, "Thank you for the ride."

The girl driver jolts up and blushes, "Y-You're welcome! It was my pleasure your highness!!"

He waves goodbye and watches her head off into the sunset, he then looks around and is amazed at how many people are in this division; this is without a doubt one of the largest groups in the army.

Hundreds of people who just happened to be walking by stop and stare at him, they double take because they are not a hundred percent sure that the real Prince is actually here; none the less they are still soldiers who don't have time to be starstruck, they all salute and get back to their usual duties.

Dice walks into the tent that Rain had just entered, and as soon as he does he instantly feels like an outsider. The vibe in this four sided tent is that of utmost intensity.

Rain and five other men are all standing over a table with a large map on it and all he can do is stand in the corner and listen.

Rain slides her finger up the map and says, "I want 3/4 of this division to head northwest toward Tronoble, and the rest remain behind as back up."

One of the men surrounding the table shakes his head. "If we head there, our battalion will head straight for a blood bath, and if we're not careful the La'Juutian's will attack us from the west. The entirety of this division will be annihilated."

Rain glares at him and turns back to the table, there are red and green stones that lie on the paper which indicates their position on the map, and it also includes the blue and yellow of Troy and La'Juune.

She slides a few red stones up to the position of the blue stones that sit on the position that signifies the city of Tronoble and replies, "That's not the case, by sending 3/4 of our troops to fight the Trojans in the city, and having our last quarter lag behind us by two miles, it allows the La'Juutians to commence their attack on our left flank." She maneuvers the colored stones around gracefully, keeping their attention on her. "And while they do this, it will allow our lagging fraction to sweep behind them and attack, this will surround them and allow us to capsize their force from the outside in."

"Do you think we can pull something like that off? I mean, fighting both of them at once sounds very risky, the Trojans have the advantage of being at home. They can just retreat while us and the La'Juutians kill each other off." says one of the men.

"That won't happen." Rain swiftly retorts, "The Trojans will never abandon a city that holds so much importance, they need to be stationed there to avoid opening up a pathway to their capital." She points her finger on the surroundings of the city and continues. "These mountains are damn near impossible for an opposing army to pass in the southwest of Troy. Tronoble is crucial to all three of our countries and I know for sure that whoever wins this city will be in control of the first turning point in the war."

The men all look at each other and contemplate her plans. It's not like they have any choice but to do this even if they disagree, but it is more encouraging to have all of the leaders in agreement.

They all have a light feeling in their stomachs when they look at the bigger picture of all this.

This battle will go down in the history books as one of the most significant battles of all time. The light feeling isn't only from the excitement of such a thing, it also comes from the massive risk in contrast to the massive reward; they understand that if this battle is lost, it would leave the northwestern part of Eiyalazo completely vulnerable and could possibly lose the war for them.

"Judging by your silence I sense that you approve... Good, we leave tonight." said Rain as she folds up the map.

Dice is broken out of the trance he was just in while he was watching the genius of Rain firsthand and says, "Tonight? Don't you need to rest!?"

Rain tut tuts and replies, "Rest is worthless Prince Dice. By us moving out tonight, we can catch the 105th Specialist Division off guard before the sun rises and we can get to Tronoble by the end of the week."

It would seem that she has had this planned since the very beginning, everyone is wrapped around her finger and they are forced to move at her pace, that includes the Prince.

Dice folds his arms and looks at her with concern, he is about to say something but he is stopped by Rain.

"I see that you're wearing gloves today." she says as she walks out of the tent, not even giving him a chance to respond.

(Is she suspicious about my hand?) he thinks to himself, he is paying no mind to the five army men who are staring at him in shock.

They were so infatuated with the presentation of the battle plan that they hadn't even noticed that the Prince of their country was standing a few feet away in the same tent. He turns to them and sees that they are all saluting, he does so in return and leaves as well.

---------------------------------

By now the sun has set and it is night, a man with two different colored eyes standing in front of the tent is making an announcement to the entire battalion that they will be leaving in less than an hour and what they are to expect upon doing so.

Rain is loitering alongside a small creek and throwing rocks into it, she is anxious to leave and is just killing time, if it were up to her the preparations and the orders for battle would be done along the way.

"Hey.." Dice says as he sneaks in from behind her.

Just the sound of his voice makes Rain cringe in annoyance, to her it seems that his pester factor has increased tenfold since her father died.

"I would appreciate it if you'd stop following me."

"You know that I can't do that."

"I recommend that you do so... Or I will begin to truly show you someone unlovable."

Her words sting, he doesn't know exactly what she means by this but he only imagines the worst. He gulps his throat and proceeds to sit on a rock.

"Why do you hate me?"

He looks saddened and distraught when he asked that so it makes Rain feel obliged to answer. "I don't hate you, I don't even dislike you. Their really isn't a single thing that could make me feel that way towards you."

Dice's face lights up, he reveals a wide eyed smile as if asking, 'Really!?'

Rain wants to stop this before he gets his hopes up and finishes, "But, there isn't a single thing about you that would make me feel anything more than nothing toward you."

She walks away and heads to the stage where the announcement is being made, leaving a hurt Dice in her wake.

Dice puts his hands on his face and sighs, "I don't get it... This isn't supposed to happen this way."

He leans back on the rock and pulls off the gloves that cover his hands.

He frowns and talks to the tattoo of the pentagram, "Why is this happening huh!? You're supposed to help me!!"

As soon as he says this the surroundings all turn red and he feels an excruciating pain in his hand. In a normal reaction to pain, people wince and move around to defer it somehow, but in this situation his body is frozen stiff and this causes it to be even worse.

The black pentagram begins to shine and out of the light comes the familiar black snake, it slides up his arm and looks at him with its blood red eyes.

"I am helping you Prince Dice, can't you see it? You are occupying an incredible amount of space in her mind."

"Yeah in the wrong way!"

"The process of a one sided love has to begin somewhere, even if it is not what you'd like it to be. The fact that she thinks of you means you can be loved."

Dice grits his teeth at how his hand is feeling and has a cracked voice when he says, "That doesn't make any sense."

"Oh but it does my fair Prince, just wait and see."

Dice clicks his tongue and shouts, "I'm tired of waiting! I want her now!"

The snake slithers further up his arm and moves eerily close to his face. "That impatience of yours, let this emotion you feel eat away at your soul, let the thirst for that girl ferment in your heart. If you keep growing that feeling, I will make your desires a reality."

The snake sucks back into his hand and it causes Dice to feel an awful pain.

He pants as the feeling dissipates slowly and says to himself, "You told me that the first time I met you... What I truly want to know is how you are going make this happen..? I still don't get it."

-------------------------------------

A man is sitting on a throne like chair with a chess board on an intricately designed table that lies in front of him.

He moves the rook of a black chess piece toward white and says, "Slowly but surely, my little pawns will soon allow me to rise once again."

He sits in an almost completely dark room, it's so dark that his face can't be seen. The candlelight can reach only to his hands, legs, and the chessboard.

"It seems childish of you meddle in the affairs of humans."

Comes the voice of Damien who is standing below the rise of the chair, he is wearing the same facial expression as always and his red eyes seem to be glowing even brighter than usual.

The man in the chair gestures to his chessboard that only has two black rooks positioned upwards in contrast to one white rook away from the rest of its group. "This is where you lack the ability to see how important humans are, without them you and I could hold no power, but with them we can have it all."

"Oh? You expect to gain so much by simply tempting them to carry out your will?" Damien replies smugly.

The man laughs, "Hahaha, of course my foolish child. That is the role of God is it not?"

"Except you are not God."

The laughter stops and through the darkness a serious aura spews from it.

Damien feeds off that aura and throws words equivalent to kindling into the fire of animosity burning from the other side of the room. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but a God needs to be worshiped right?"

The man on the chair stays silent for a moment until he replies, "Soon enough, everyone in existence will worship me."

Damien shrugs his shoulders and turns to walk toward the door.

"Good luck in accomplishing that."

"Are you condescending me? I don't see any movement on your chessboard boy."

Damien keeps walking and opens the door.

"My chess pieces have been moving all along, but it would seem that you have been too infatuated with meddling in the affairs of useless humans to notice it."

He exits and the room is once again embraced in a cold black. Through the darkness two red lights shine where the chair is. It is the man's eyes that are glowing like burning hot pieces of coal.

He clicks his tongue and says, "I hate to admit it, but your'e right... You are the one person I can never understand."

Damien is walking in the hallway when he faintly reveals a smile full of confidence and says to himself, "Go ahead and writhe in the thirst to be worshiped... I have bigger beings to fry, and that includes you.... Father."

-------------------------------------

Rain is riding on a horse alongside a few men and is leading a whole battalion of soldiers through the trees; this area of northwestern Eiyalazo does not have as many large sequoia and banyan as the area where Ditreig was assassinated. Here, mainly consists of pine and other small trees that spot the grassy and hilly terrain.

The battalion is spread out in fifty groups of ten people wide and ten people deep along a forty yard gap. The reason for this is that in case of an attack, they would easily be able to retract and form a massive defensive position, and spread out even more to surround the enemy in an offensive position depending on the size of the opposing force.

In almost all of Rain's battle plans, she focuses on surrounding the enemy; one can say that this is her specialty because in even the most unlikely situations she'd find a way to defeat the enemy from all sides and in.

"We should be rendezvousing with your father's division very shortly, they have retreated back due to constant attacks by the Trojans so they are stationed just a few hundred yards ahead of us." said the man with two different colored eyes who is riding next to her.

Rain keeps her stare forward and responds, "Good, I have a few questions to ask some of the soldiers. Also, who is the man now in charge?"

The younger looking blond man ponders for a moment until he put a face together with a name. "It is your father's old assistant, his name is Jalet Aldred."

"Alright, once we arrive there we will stop for no more than an hour, and afterwards I'll have them tail behind us. We can use there help."

"Yes mam."

The two divisions combine and the scene is quite hectic because the sheer number of men all in one group; some are leisurely joining each other in conversation and some are strictly business types and are ignoring the presence of the other soldiers.

A man comes up to greet Rain and the rest of the higher ups, he looks a little nervous and is juggling his note book in his hands.

He tilts his glasses up, salutes and stutters when he says, "I-I'm the Captain of this division, my name is Jalet Aldred. It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

Rain twitches her eyebrow and becomes intrigued by this gingerly man, she jumps off her horse and looks him in the eye.

"So you are the new Captain huh? I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Yes mam."

"You were Captain Ditreig's assistant correct?"

"Yes mam."

"So out of all your soldiers, you carry the most intelligence about the circumstances of his death, correct?"

"Yes mam."

"Then tell me all you know."

"Yes mam."

Dice joins the group and listens in on the talk when he sees the gingerly man scramble as he flips through pages of his notebook and begins to read.

"At 0900 hours, two of our surveillance men we're killed in action by Trojan spies. Their uniforms we're stolen and the two spies infiltrated our division and assassinated Captain Ditreig."

Rain rests her hand on her hip and leans on her left leg, with a suspicious tone she bluntly asks, "Is that all?"

"Yes mam."

She stares at him with a straight face, causing him to become even more nervous and he begins to really sweat profusely. Seeing this verifies the suspicious feeling that is poking at her subconscious, but instead of abruptly stating what she is thinking, she decides to gather a little more evidence.

"What were the names of the two soldiers that were killed?"

Jalet flips back in his notebook and puts his finger on their names. "Eh-uh... It was Corbin Mizlesh and Applic Stellson."

"What did they look like?"

Jalet flips a few pages back and says, "One had brown hair and green eyes, and the other had somewhat of a feminine build with short black hair and crimson eyes."

Rain doesn't say anything when she turns away and reaches her hand in a pouch that rests on the side of her horse's saddle and pulls out a large book. She looks through it and asks, "Oh? Tell me something Jalet, do you note everything down in the book of yours?"

"Y-Yes mam."

"Why is that?"

"B-Because I feel that it is important to write everything down in order to obtain consistency in daily routines."

"Hmmm, then you and I are very similar... I also do something like that, except what I do allows me to break the methodical mold that goes along with every day moments and helps me plan ahead so I can bend those moments to move at my own pace."

Jalet is confused as to where she is going with this, so he thinks it'd be wise to simply go along with it.

"R-Really?" he asks with a wary smile.

Rain stops on a page and pulls a piece of paper out.

"Oh, this is what I was trying to find... Now, just one more." She continues to turn the pages until she once again stops and pulls yet another piece of paper out. "Here we are."

She puts the book back into her saddle pouch and turns to Jalet, causing his shoulders to stiffen up. She faintly smiles and hands him the two pieces of paper.

"As a pupil of the same hobby, I'd like to know what you think of these two pictures."

"Y-Yes mam."

He grabs the papers and sees that they are actually two photos of men, and as soon as he sees this he turns even more pale and his eyes grow so large it's as if his pupils are hitting the lens of his glasses.

On the photo to the left is a man with long black hair and black eyes, and on the photo to the right is a large muscular man with golden hair and blue eyes.

But this isn't what has got him so shocked; underneath the photos are the names of the men, 'Corbin Mizlesh' and 'Applic Stellson'.

This has completely contradicted the story that Jalet had just told. Corbin, a man whom he described as someone with brown hair and green eyes has differing features than that of the photo; and Applic, the man whom in the photo looks to be the exact opposite of the described feminine man with crimson eyes and black hair.

"Of course, I had all the photos of the men in this division sent to me so I know what I have to deal with. You see, this is called controlling your future Captain Jalet. By simply combining all of the odds of certain events that could happen and preparing for each one separately, you can literally control your own destiny." She walks with in a few feet of him and continues, "Those who live for the daily occurrences that help the present moment go by smoother will only be run down by the past. And if I'm not mistaken, that is exactly what has just happened to you. Because you failed in preparing for what I might do once I got here, you were caught in your little cover up."

"W-Wait, t-this isn't what it----"

Before he can finish his awful attempt at making an excuse, Rain interrupts him.

"Now now, no need to look so discouraged about it, you have successfully given me a fairly accurate description of the assassins, and that's the most important thing I need to know."

She pats him on the shoulder and walks past him.

Jalet exhales in relief and releases the tension in his shoulders, but he quickly stiffens back up when he hears her voice again.

"Oh, just one more question."

Jalet quizzically turns and replies, "Y-Yes mam?"

"Since you saw the perpetrators, I must ask why you were not present when Captain Ditreig was killed?"

He takes a sharp and very deep breath before attempting to respond.

"Eh! Ah ah... You see he was..."

Rain still has such a calm demeanor about her and she once again interrupts, "Could it be that the two spies were personally directed to Captain Ditreig through you?"

She is spot on in her assessment, she came to this conclusion when she thought about what the many different circumstances that could be possible in which the spies were able to gain access to her father. To her it seems most logical that the spies would have had to ask Jalet to speak with the Captain privately in order to give him info on the surveillance as to not gather any excess attention.

She has an innate ability to analyze things in her head so quickly that it would make the average human's head spin; no one knows where she got this from, her mother was average and even though her father was once a war hero, he didn't hold half the intellect she does.

Judging by his appearance, she assumes she is correct and says, "Yes... That has to be it. How else would the Captain's assistant be nowhere near his superior when he was being killed? And why else would you go to such great lengths to cover it up..? You have a slue of charges against you Capt- no... Jalet."

Jalet's knees are shaking and it is quite obvious that he is a total wreck; he is in such shock that he was easily found out just because of a slight slip up that no one should have noticed.

He can't come up with the words to retort so all he can do is bow and shout, "I'm sorry!!!"

Rain begins to walk back to him, "Other than the assassins, you are the closest man responsible for the death of Captain Ditreig."

She lifts his head from his bowing position and looks him straight in the face, she frowns and turns away quickly.

After a few steps she turns to the onlooking men on horses and coldly says, "Execute him."

Jalet drops to his knees, this is the worst possible outcome he ever could have imagined; he wants to beg for his life but his throat is so hoarse that only the sound of light grunts can be heard.

Dice's face drops, for one he can't believe what he had just witnessed, and for two he can't believe that she could so easily send a man to death for something that wasn't entirely his fault.

He jumps in between them and shouts, "Absolutely not! I won't allow it!"

Rain doesn't turn around and lets him continue his rant.

"That punishment is far too harsh for something like this, how can you be so heartless!?"

Rain waits a moment before answering, "The punishment is too harsh? Because of his negligence, his superior was cut down from under his nose."

She turns to him and reveals a face so full of anger that it makes his stomach hurt.

"Quit this stupid honor act of yours and use your god damn head! This man is lucky I don't have his eyes, ears, and arms dismantled and force him to run blind into the forest! Because of this man's incompetence we lost valuable ground in our offensive against the Trojans. And because of this man, I LOST A FATHER!"

This sudden surge of emotion has caught everyone around off guard.

Dice has never seen her act in any way that would indicate such a reaction.

But that's still not going to deter him from what he knows is right, he takes a deep breath and prepares to reiterate what he had said before when he feels the back of his right hand pulsate.

Along with this heartbeat like feeling in his hand comes a voice, "This is the beginning my fair Prince. Let her order stand."

Dice clinches his teeth and shuts his eyes as he screams to the voice from with in his head, "No! I can't accept the order for such an awful thing!"

The voice gets louder, "If you do this she will realize that you will do anything for her and she will start to accept you. This is what you have to do, the path to her heart is opening through this hate that she holds. This is the fist step needed to have her heart and mind cling to your image."

"But I can't do this!"

"Oh but you can, just allow me to help you."

"That's what I don't get! How are you going to help me? Especially in this situation!!?"

The voice is now so loud that it is giving Dice a banging migraine.

"I shall show you my fair Prince."

Within an instant, the headache disappears and his body feels incredibly light, so light that he does not notice that his hands are moving by themselves.

(Huh? What's happening?) he thinks to himself.

And this thought enters his mind more and more when he begins to hear himself talk without his consent.

"You are right Rain." he says.

Rain looks at him with a confused expression until her eyebrows steadily steepen and form back into to a frown. "I don't want to hear how you're going to tell me I'm right and then add a 'but' at the end."

Dice smiles, "That's not what I'm going to do this time... In fact, that's not what I'm going to do ever again."

"What are you talking about?" she asks.

"By seeing your face just now, I realized that what you want from me is not kindness, but support."

Rain stays silent as she watches him say and do things that are baffling her; she watches as he pulls out the saber from his sheath and points it at Jalet.

Jalet's jaw drops, his fear is paramount when he looks into Dice's eyes and sees no hint of any emotion, only the cold glare of someone who is about to take a life.

"N-No don't! Didn't you just say that you'd help me!?!?!" Jalet shouts in a panic.

Dice shows no thread of hesitation when he says, "That was before I understood Rain's feelings... That was before I understood what it takes to understand what she is feeling. In order to that I must feel the same pain that she does. And that is the pain of losing her father because of some notebook dawdling prick who wasn't paying attention! You do deserve this punishment!"

Rain is taken aback, this transformation of character is an exact 180. She can't believe that he'd even say something like that and is beginning to wonder if he has always had this quality to him.

With widened eyes she asks Dice, "You aren't actually going to do this are you!?"

Dice looks at her and gently smiles, "I must do this, to show you that what I said was true."

He lifts his saber and slices down on Jalet's neck, completely lopping off his head in a clean strike.

As soon as his lifeless body hits the ground a couple soldiers run and grab his corpse to take it into the woods for burial.

Rain can't believe what she had just seen, an odd feeling begins to brew in her chest and she doesn't know if it is good or bad, but she knows it is tightly squeezing at her.

With a cracked voice she says, "You... You did it."

She shakes her head and quickly comes to her senses, she looks at the multi-colored eyed blond man on the horse and orders, "I want you to find someone worthy of becoming the Captain of this squad... And make sure he is good too, he will be taking over my father's former position."

"Yes mam."

"Wait!" shouts Dice before the man can take off.He puts his hand on his chest and kneels toward Rain. "Please... Allow me to take that seat."

"What?" she asks with one eyebrow raised.

"I don't think anyone other than me is better suited to take control of your father's division."

"But you aren't allowed to fight."

"I don't have to... I can lead them in a similar fashion as you."

Rain thinks about it for a moment and is about to refuse until he looks her in the eye and quietly speaks so the others can't hear. "Please... I want to help you restore your name, by me doing this, it will show the people that I respect your father so much that I personally chose to command his own troops."

"Fine..." she replies. She gestures to the other onlooking men and says, "We leave in an hour, so get everyone prepared."

All of the men simultaneously shout "Yes mam!" and head off into the mass amount of army men.

Rain has her straight face back on and she looks at Dice for a moment, the two aren't alone but no one around can hear their words.

She folds her arms and stiffly asks, "Why did you do that?"

Dice stands from his kneeling position and walks to her side, he leans his head close to her ear so she can feel his warm breath when he says, "Because I love you."

He walks away into the crowd and leaves Rain standing there in the same spot.

When he said this, Rain has that tight feeling resurface once again in her chest, she puts her hand over her heart and asks herself, "Is this good or bad?"

---------------------------------

"Oorrraaahhhckckkkkk!!!"

Dice is leaning over the bank of a river that runs through the trees and gags, he is desperately trying to throw up to relief some of the nauseating feeling in his stomach from the image of the beheading.

"I didn't want to do that! I didn't want to do that! I didn't want to do that! Why!? I told you no didn't I!? Why did you make me do it!?" he shouts in a panicked voice.

The voice of the snake rings in his head, "Did you not see the look in that girl's eyes? You have made a large impact on her from just that one action."

"It wasn't me who made in impact! You were the one who did all of that!"

"That is true, but it was what needed to be done."

Dice starts throwing water on his face and shouts through the droplets, "I don't care! I don't want this deal anymore, I want to make her love me by my own!"

"....."

"Do you hear me!"

"I do fair Prince, very well then... I shall leave you, but you will soon beckon me once again for knowledge when she comes to you and expects someone more to her liking."

The voice disappears and leaves Dice's mind to wander in its own dismay. He is breathing hard and drinks a big gulp of river water, he then shakily stands up and leans on a tree.

(Is he gone for good?) he thinks to himself.

He readies to lift the soaked white glove on his right hand to see if the pentagram is still apparent when he hears some footsteps crunching on some leaves from behind him.

He slowly turns to look assuming it is just a regular soldier, but is in for a big surprise when he sees that it is none other than Rain.

"R-Rain? What are you doing here?"

Rain takes a couple more steps toward him and replies, "I just want to talk with you."

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 4|Rain on the Battlefield]]
| Return to [[Dantega|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 6|(Part 3)]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 5

2013-06-09T05:44:50Z

68.111.158.48:

(PART 2)

Rain leisurely tosses a bag of luggage in the back of a horse drawn carriage, it makes a loud noise that startles the woman holding the reigns.

"Let's go." she says as she gets in.

The carriage woman snaps the reigns and the horses begin to move.

It's a half day's travel to the division that she'll be leading, so she decides to shut her eyes and try to sleep the time away when she hears a loud thud from the back of her seat. She turns to look at the source and sees a large duffle bag. Before she can ask herself who's bag it is, her question is answered when the carriage door opens and in comes Dice.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

Dice smiles and replies, "You didn't think I'd actually let you go to war by yourself did you?"

Rain sighs and replies, "Part of me didn't think you would, but all of me was hoping for it. Let me guess, this was your bargaining chip for your parents to consider me in doing this right?"

"That's right!"

In Eiyalazo, it is the job of the Prince to experience battle for PR points. Though he will certainly not fight, the propagandists will say that he did, and valiantly at that. This kind of thing results in the support of the people, all be it the Royals think of their citizens as primitive commoners; they understand how important it is to be in good favor with the masses.

Dice used this tactic to convince his parents for Rain's military exemption, and to add on to that he used this for his own personal need in wanting to ensure Rain's safety.

"Tch." Rain clicks her tongue in annoyance.

By him doing this it almost completely hinders her plan in personally taking revenge on whoever assassinated her father.

She leans back and looks out of the window, completely ignoring his presence, her doing this makes the half day long ride very awkward for the pitiful prince.

-------------------------

The sun is close to setting and there has yet to be a word spoken between the two, the silence was so bad it even made the driver cringe.

The driver sighs in relief when she sees the base camp just a few minutes away.

"We have arrived at our destination." she says with a smile.

Once through the gate the sight of thousands of soldiers are enclosed in a make shift wooden fort is seen and they enter into what seems like a large village. As soon as the carriage stops Rain immediately grabs her luggage and exits the door.

"Don't get in my way." she coldly says as she walks to a group of higher ups stationed in on of the tents.

Dice sighs and glances at the driver who is glaring at him like, 'Did she just say that?'.

He smiles at her and bows, "Thank you for the ride."

The girl driver jolts up and blushes, "Y-You're welcome! It was my pleasure your highness!!"

He waves goodbye and watches her head off into the sunset, he then looks around and is amazed at how many people are in this division; this is without a doubt one of the largest groups in the army.

Hundreds of people who just happened to be walking by stop and stare at him, they double take because they are not a hundred percent sure that the real Prince is actually here; none the less they are still soldiers who don't have time to be starstruck, they all salute and get back to their usual duties.

Dice walks into the tent that Rain had just entered, and as soon as he does he instantly feels like an outsider. The vibe in this four sided tent is that of utmost intensity.

Rain and five other men are all standing over a table with a large map on it and all he can do is stand in the corner and listen.

Rain slides her finger up the map and says, "I want 3/4 of this division to head northwest toward Tronoble, and the rest remain behind as back up."

One of the men surrounding the table shakes his head. "If we head there, our battalion will head straight for a blood bath, and if we're not careful the La'Juutian's will attack us from the west. The entirety of this division will be annihilated."

Rain glares at him and turns back to the table, there are red and green stones that lie on the paper which indicates their position on the map, and it also includes the blue and yellow of Troy and La'Juune.

She slides a few red stones up to the position of the blue stones that sit on the position that signifies the city of Tronoble and replies, "That's not the case, by sending 3/4 of our troops to fight the Trojans in the city, and having our last quarter lag behind us by two miles, it allows the La'Juutians to commence their attack on our left flank." She maneuvers the colored stones around gracefully, keeping their attention on her. "And while they do this, it will allow our lagging fraction to sweep behind them and attack, this will surround them and allow us to capsize their force from the outside in."

"Do you think we can pull something like that off? I mean, fighting both of them at once sounds very risky, the Trojans have the advantage of being at home. They can just retreat while us and the La'Juutians kill each other off." says one of the men.

"That won't happen." Rain swiftly retorts, "The Trojans will never abandon a city that holds so much importance, they need to be stationed there to avoid opening up a pathway to their capital." She points her finger on the surroundings of the city and continues. "These mountains are damn near impossible for an opposing army to pass in the southwest of Troy. Tronoble is crucial to all three of our countries and I know for sure that whoever wins this city will be in control of the first turning point in the war."

The men all look at each other and contemplate her plans. It's not like they have any choice but to do this even if they disagree, but it is more encouraging to have all of the leaders in agreement.

They all have a light feeling in their stomachs when they look at the bigger picture of all this.

This battle will go down in the history books as one of the most significant battles of all time. The light feeling isn't only from the excitement of such a thing, it also comes from the massive risk in contrast to the massive reward; they understand that if this battle is lost, it would leave the northwestern part of Eiyalazo completely vulnerable and could possibly lose the war for them.

"Judging by your silence I sense that you approve... Good, we leave tonight." said Rain as she folds up the map.

Dice is broken out of the trance he was just in while he was watching the genius of Rain firsthand and says, "Tonight? Don't you need to rest!?"

Rain tut tuts and replies, "Rest is worthless Prince Dice. By us moving out tonight, we can catch the 105th Specialist Division off guard before the sun rises and we can get to Tronoble by the end of the week."

It would seem that she has had this planned since the very beginning, everyone is wrapped around her finger and they are forced to move at her pace, that includes the Prince.

Dice folds his arms and looks at her with concern, he is about to say something but he is stopped by Rain.

"I see that you're wearing gloves today." she says as she walks out of the tent, not even giving him a chance to respond.

(Is she suspicious about my hand?) he thinks to himself, he is paying no mind to the five army men who are staring at him in shock.

They were so infatuated with the presentation of the battle plan that they hadn't even noticed that the Prince of their country was standing a few feet away in the same tent. He turns to them and sees that they are all saluting, he does so in return and leaves as well.

---------------------------------

By now the sun has set and it is night, a man with two different colored eyes standing in front of the tent is making an announcement to the entire battalion that they will be leaving in less than an hour and what they are to expect upon doing so.

Rain is loitering alongside a small creek and throwing rocks into it, she is anxious to leave and is just killing time, if it were up to her the preparations and the orders for battle would be done along the way.

"Hey.." Dice says as he sneaks in from behind her.

Just the sound of his voice makes Rain cringe in annoyance, to her it seems that his pester factor has increased tenfold since her father died.

"I would appreciate it if you'd stop following me."

"You know that I can't do that."

"I recommend that you do so... Or I will begin to truly show you someone unlovable."

Her words sting, he doesn't know exactly what she means by this but he only imagines the worst. He gulps his throat and proceeds to sit on a rock.

"Why do you hate me?"

He looks saddened and distraught when he asked that so it makes Rain feel obliged to answer. "I don't hate you, I don't even dislike you. Their really isn't a single thing that could make me feel that way towards you."

Dice's face lights up, he reveals a wide eyed smile as if asking, 'Really!?'

Rain wants to stop this before he gets his hopes up and finishes, "But, there isn't a single thing about you that would make me feel anything more than nothing toward you."

She walks away and heads to the stage where the announcement is being made, leaving a hurt Dice in her wake.

Dice puts his hands on his face and sighs, "I don't get it... This isn't supposed to happen this way."

He leans back on the rock and pulls off the gloves that cover his hands.

He frowns and talks to the tattoo of the pentagram, "Why is this happening huh!? You're supposed to help me!!"

As soon as he says this the surroundings all turn red and he feels an excruciating pain in his hand. In a normal reaction to pain, people wince and move around to defer it somehow, but in this situation his body is frozen stiff and this causes it to be even worse.

The black pentagram begins to shine and out of the light comes the familiar black snake, it slides up his arm and looks at him with its blood red eyes.

"I am helping you Prince Dice, can't you see it? You are occupying an incredible amount of space in her mind."

"Yeah in the wrong way!"

"The process of a one sided love has to begin somewhere, even if it is not what you'd like it to be. The fact that she thinks of you means you can be loved."

Dice grits his teeth at how his hand is feeling and has a cracked voice when he says, "That doesn't make any sense."

"Oh but it does my fair Prince, just wait and see."

Dice clicks his tongue and shouts, "I'm tired of waiting! I want her now!"

The snake slithers further up his arm and moves eerily close to his face. "That impatience of yours, let this emotion you feel eat away at your soul, let the thirst for that girl ferment in your heart. If you keep growing that feeling, I will make your desires a reality."

The snake sucks back into his hand and it causes Dice to feel an awful pain.

He pants as the feeling dissipates slowly and says to himself, "You told me that the first time I met you... What I truly want to know is how you are going make this happen..? I still don't get it."

-------------------------------------

A man is sitting on a throne like chair with a chess board on an intricately designed table that lies in front of him.

He moves the rook of a black chess piece toward white and says, "Slowly but surely, my little pawns will soon allow me to rise once again."

He sits in an almost completely dark room, it's so dark that his face can't be seen. The candlelight can reach only to his hands, legs, and the chessboard.

"It seems childish of you meddle in the affairs of humans."

Comes the voice of Damien who is standing below the rise of the chair, he is wearing the same facial expression as always and his red eyes seem to be glowing even brighter than usual.

The man in the chair gestures to his chessboard that only has two black rooks positioned upwards in contrast to one white rook away from the rest of its group. "This is where you lack the ability to see how important humans are, without them you and I could hold no power, but with them we can have it all."

"Oh? You expect to gain so much by simply tempting them to carry out your will?" Damien replies smugly.

The man laughs, "Hahaha, of course my foolish child. That is the role of God is it not?"

"Except you are not God."

The laughter stops and through the darkness a serious aura spews from it.

Damien feeds off that aura and throws words equivalent to kindling into the fire of animosity burning from the other side of the room. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but a God needs to be worshiped right?"

The man on the chair stays silent for a moment until he replies, "Soon enough, everyone in existence will worship me."

Damien shrugs his shoulders and turns to walk toward the door.

"Good luck in accomplishing that."

"Are you condescending me? I don't see any movement on your chessboard boy."

Damien keeps walking and opens the door.

"My chess pieces have been moving all along, but it would seem that you have been too infatuated with meddling in the affairs of useless humans to notice it."

He exits and the room is once again embraced in a cold black. Through the darkness two red lights shine where the chair is. It is the man's eyes that are glowing like burning hot pieces of coal.

He clicks his tongue and says, "I hate to admit it, but your'e right... You are the one person I can never understand."

Damien is walking in the hallway when he faintly reveals a smile full of confidence and says to himself, "Go ahead and writhe in the thirst to be worshiped... I have bigger beings to fry, and that includes you.... Father."

-------------------------------------

Rain is riding on a horse alongside a few men and is leading a whole battalion of soldiers through the trees; this area of northwestern Eiyalazo does not have as many large sequoia and banyan as the area where Ditreig was assassinated. Here, mainly consists of pine and other small trees that spot the grassy and hilly terrain.

The battalion is spread out in fifty groups of ten people wide and ten people deep along a forty yard gap. The reason for this is that in case of an attack, they would easily be able to retract and form a massive defensive position, and spread out even more to surround the enemy in an offensive position depending on the size of the opposing force.

In almost all of Rain's battle plans, she focuses on surrounding the enemy; one can say that this is her specialty because in even the most unlikely situations she'd find a way to defeat the enemy from all sides and in.

"We should be rendezvousing with your father's division very shortly, they have retreated back due to constant attacks by the Trojans so they are stationed just a few hundred yards ahead of us." said the man with two different colored eyes who is riding next to her.

Rain keeps her stare forward and responds, "Good, I have a few questions to ask some of the soldiers. Also, who is the man now in charge?"

The younger looking blond man ponders for a moment until he put a face together with a name. "It is your father's old assistant, his name is Jalet Aldred."

"Alright, once we arrive there we will stop for no more than an hour, and afterwards I'll have them tail behind us. We can use there help."

"Yes mam."

The two divisions combine and the scene is quite hectic because the sheer number of men all in one group; some are leisurely joining each other in conversation and some are strictly business types and are ignoring the presence of the other soldiers.

A man comes up to greet Rain and the rest of the higher ups, he looks a little nervous and is juggling his note book in his hands.

He tilts his glasses up, salutes and stutters when he says, "I-I'm the Captain of this division, my name is Jalet Aldred. It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

Rain twitches her eyebrow and becomes intrigued by this gingerly man, she jumps off her horse and looks him in the eye.

"So you are the new Captain huh? I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Yes mam."

"You were Captain Ditreig's assistant correct?"

"Yes mam."

"So out of all your soldiers, you carry the most intelligence about the circumstances of his death, correct?"

"Yes mam."

"Then tell me all you know."

"Yes mam."

Dice joins the group and listens in on the talk when he sees the gingerly man scramble as he flips through pages of his notebook and begins to read.

"At 0900 hours, two of our surveillance men we're killed in action by Trojan spies. Their uniforms we're stolen and the two spies infiltrated our division and assassinated Captain Ditreig."

Rain rests her hand on her hip and leans on her left leg, with a suspicious tone she bluntly asks, "Is that all?"

"Yes mam."

She stares at him with a straight face, causing him to become even more nervous and he begins to really sweat profusely. Seeing this verifies the suspicious feeling that is poking at her subconscious, but instead of abruptly stating what she is thinking, she decides to gather a little more evidence.

"What were the names of the two soldiers that were killed?"

Jalet flips back in his notebook and puts his finger on their names. "Eh-uh... It was Corbin Mizlesh and Applic Stellson."

"What did they look like?"

Jalet flips a few pages back and says, "One had brown hair and green eyes, and the other had somewhat of a feminine build with short black hair and crimson eyes."

Rain doesn't say anything when she turns away and reaches her hand in a pouch that rests on the side of her horse's saddle and pulls out a large book. She looks through it and asks, "Oh? Tell me something Jalet, do you note everything down in the book of yours?"

"Y-Yes mam."

"Why is that?"

"B-Because I feel that it is important to write everything down in order to obtain consistency in daily routines."

"Hmmm, then you and I are very similar... I also do something like that, except what I do allows me to break the methodical mold that goes along with every day moments and helps me plan ahead so I can bend those moments to move at my own pace."

Jalet is confused as to where she is going with this, so he thinks it'd be wise to simply go along with it.

"R-Really?" he asks with a wary smile.

Rain stops on a page and pulls a piece of paper out.

"Oh, this is what I was trying to find... Now, just one more." She continues to turn the pages until she once again stops and pulls yet another piece of paper out. "Here we are."

She puts the book back into her saddle pouch and turns to Jalet, causing his shoulders to stiffen up. She faintly smiles and hands him the two pieces of paper.

"As a pupil of the same hobby, I'd like to know what you think of these two pictures."

"Y-Yes mam."

He grabs the papers and sees that they are actually two photos of men, and as soon as he sees this he turns even more pale and his eyes grow so large it's as if his pupils are hitting the lens of his glasses.

On the photo to the left is a man with long black hair and black eyes, and on the photo to the right is a large muscular man with golden hair and blue eyes.

But this isn't what has got him so shocked; underneath the photos are the names of the men, 'Corbin Mizlesh' and 'Applic Stellson'.

This has completely contradicted the story that Jalet had just told. Corbin, a man whom he described as someone with brown hair and green eyes has differing features than that of the photo; and Applic, the man whom in the photo looks to be the exact opposite of the described feminine man with crimson eyes and black hair.

"Of course, I had all the photos of the men in this division sent to me so I know what I have to deal with. You see, this is called controlling your future Captain Jalet. By simply combining all of the odds of certain events that could happen and preparing for each one separately, you can literally control your own destiny." She walks with in a few feet of him and continues, "Those who live for the daily occurrences that help the present moment go by smoother will only be run down by the past. And if I'm not mistaken, that is exactly what has just happened to you. Because you failed in preparing for what I might do once I got here, you were caught in your little cover up."

"W-Wait, t-this isn't what it----"

Before he can finish his awful attempt at making an excuse, Rain interrupts him.

"Now now, no need to look so discouraged about it, you have successfully given me a fairly accurate description of the assassins, and that's the most important thing I need to know."

She pats him on the shoulder and walks past him.

Jalet exhales in relief and releases the tension in his shoulders, but he quickly stiffens back up when he hears her voice again.

"Oh, just one more question."

Jalet quizzically turns and replies, "Y-Yes mam?"

"Since you saw the perpetrators, I must ask why you were not present when Captain Ditreig was killed?"

He takes a sharp and very deep breath before attempting to respond.

"Eh! Ah ah... You see he was..."

Rain still has such a calm demeanor about her and she once again interrupts, "Could it be that the two spies were personally directed to Captain Ditreig through you?"

She is spot on in her assessment, she came to this conclusion when she thought about what the many different circumstances that could be possible in which the spies were able to gain access to her father. To her it seems most logical that the spies would have had to ask Jalet to speak with the Captain privately in order to give him info on the surveillance as to not gather any excess attention.

She has an innate ability to analyze things in her head so quickly that it would make the average human's head spin; no one knows where she got this from, her mother was average and even though her father was once a war hero, he didn't hold half the intellect she does.

Judging by his appearance, she assumes she is correct and says, "Yes... That has to be it. How else would the Captain's assistant be nowhere near his superior when he was being killed? And why else would you go to such great lengths to cover it up..? You have a slue of charges against you Capt- no... Jalet."

Jalet's knees are shaking and it is quite obvious that he is a total wreck; he is in such shock that he was easily found out just because of a slight slip up that no one should have noticed.

He can't come up with the words to retort so all he can do is bow and shout, "I'm sorry!!!"

Rain begins to walk back to him, "Other than the assassins, you are the closest man responsible for the death of Captain Ditreig."

She lifts his head from his bowing position and looks him straight in the face, she frowns and turns away quickly.

After a few steps she turns to the onlooking men on horses and coldly says, "Execute him."

Jalet drops to his knees, this is the worst possible outcome he ever could have imagined; he wants to beg for his life but his throat is so hoarse that only the sound of light grunts can be heard.

Dice's face drops, for one he can't believe what he had just witnessed, and for two he can't believe that she could so easily send a man to death for something that wasn't entirely his fault.

He jumps in between them and shouts, "Absolutely not! I won't allow it!"

Rain doesn't turn around and lets him continue his rant.

"That punishment is far too harsh for something like this, how can you be so heartless!?"

Rain waits a moment before answering, "The punishment is too harsh? Because of his negligence, his superior was cut down from under his nose."

She turns to him and reveals a face so full of anger that it makes his stomach hurt.

"Quit this stupid honor act of yours and use your god damn head! This man is lucky I don't have his eyes, ears, and arms dismantled and force him to run blind into the forest! Because of this man's incompetence we lost valuable ground in our offensive against the Trojans. And because of this man, I LOST A FATHER!"

This sudden surge of emotion has caught everyone around off guard.

Dice has never seen her act in any way that would indicate such a reaction.

But that's still not going to deter him from what he knows is right, he takes a deep breath and prepares to reiterate what he had said before when he feels the back of his right hand pulsate.

Along with this heartbeat like feeling in his hand comes a voice, "This is the beginning my fair Prince. Let her order stand."

Dice clinches his teeth and shuts his eyes as he screams to the voice from with in his head, "No! I can't accept the order for such an awful thing!"

The voice gets louder, "If you do this she will realize that you will do anything for her and she will start to accept you. This is what you have to do, the path to her heart is opening through this hate that she holds. This is the fist step needed to have her heart and mind cling to your image."

"But I can't do this!"

"Oh but you can, just allow me to help you."

"That's what I don't get! How are you going to help me? Especially in this situation!!?"

The voice is now so loud that it is giving Dice a banging migraine.

"I shall show you my fair Prince."

Within an instant, the headache disappears and his body feels incredibly light, so light that he does not notice that his hands are moving by themselves.

(Huh? What's happening?) he thinks to himself.

And this thought enters his mind more and more when he begins to hear himself talk without his consent.

"You are right Rain." he says.

Rain looks at him with a confused expression until her eyebrows steadily steepen and form back into to a frown. "I don't want to hear how you're going to tell me I'm right and then add a 'but' at the end."

Dice smiles, "That's not what I'm going to do this time... In fact, that's not what I'm going to do ever again."

"What are you talking about?" she asks.

"By seeing your face just now, I realized that what you want from me is not kindness, but support."

Rain stays silent as she watches him say and do things that are baffling her; she watches as he pulls out the saber from his sheath and points it at Jalet.

Jalet's jaw drops, his fear is paramount when he looks into Dice's eyes and sees no hint of any emotion, only the cold glare of someone who is about to take a life.

"N-No don't! Didn't you just say that you'd help me!?!?!" Jalet shouts in a panic.

Dice shows no thread of hesitation when he says, "That was before I understood Rain's feelings... That was before I understood what it takes to understand what she is feeling. In order to that I must feel the same pain that she does. And that is the pain of losing her father because of some notebook dawdling prick who wasn't paying attention! You do deserve this punishment!"

Rain is taken aback, this transformation of character is an exact 180. She can't believe that he'd even say something like that and is beginning to wonder if he has always had this quality to him.

With widened eyes she asks Dice, "You aren't actually going to do this are you!?"

Dice looks at her and gently smiles, "I must do this, to show you that what I said was true."

He lifts his saber and slices down on Jalet's neck, completely lopping off his head in a clean strike.

As soon as his lifeless body hits the ground a couple soldiers run and grab his corpse to take it into the woods for burial.

Rain can't believe what she had just seen, an odd feeling begins to brew in her chest and she doesn't know if it is good or bad, but she knows it is tightly squeezing at her.

With a cracked voice she says, "You... You did it."

She shakes her head and quickly comes to her senses, she looks at the multi-colored eyed blond man on the horse and orders, "I want you to find someone worthy of becoming the Captain of this squad... And make sure he is good too, he will be taking over my father's former position."

"Yes mam."

"Wait!" shouts Dice before the man can take off.He puts his hand on his chest and kneels toward Rain. "Please... Allow me to take that seat."

"What?" she asks with one eyebrow raised.

"I don't think anyone other than me is better suited to take control of your father's division."

"But you aren't allowed to fight."

"I don't have to... I can lead them in a similar fashion as you."

Rain thinks about it for a moment and is about to refuse until he looks her in the eye and quietly speaks so the others can't hear. "Please... I want to help you restore your name, by me doing this, it will show the people that I respect your father so much that I personally chose to command his own troops."

"Fine..." she replies. She gestures to the other onlooking men and says, "We leave in an hour, so get everyone prepared."

All of the men simultaneously shout "Yes mam!" and head off into the mass amount of army men.

Rain has her straight face back on and she looks at Dice for a moment, the two aren't alone but no one around can hear their words.

She folds her arms and stiffly asks, "Why did you do that?"

Dice stands from his kneeling position and walks to her side, he leans his head close to her ear so she can feel his warm breath when he says, "Because I love you."

He walks away into the crowd and leaves Rain standing there in the same spot.

When he said this, Rain has that tight feeling resurface once again in her chest, she puts her hand over her heart and asks herself, "Is this good or bad?"

---------------------------------

"Oorrraaahhhckckkkkk!!!"

Dice is leaning over the bank of a river that runs through the trees and gags, he is desperately trying to throw up to relief some of the nauseating feeling in his stomach from the image of the beheading.

"I didn't want to do that! I didn't want to do that! I didn't want to do that! Why!? I told you no didn't I!? Why did you make me do it!?" he shouts in a panicked voice.

The voice of the snake rings in his head, "Did you not see the look in that girl's eyes? You have made a large impact on her from just that one action."

"It wasn't me who made in impact! You were the one who did all of that!"

"That is true, but it was what needed to be done."

Dice starts throwing water on his face and shouts through the droplets, "I don't care! I don't want this deal anymore, I want to make her love me by my own!"

"....."

"Do you hear me!"

"I do fair Prince, very well then... I shall leave you, but you will soon beckon me once again for knowledge when she comes to you and expects someone more to her liking."

The voice disappears and leaves Dice's mind to wander in its own dismay. He is breathing hard and drinks a big gulp of river water, he then shakily stands up and leans on a tree.

(Is he gone for good?) he thinks to himself.

He readies to lift the soaked white glove on his right hand to see if the pentagram is still apparent when he hears some footsteps crunching on some leaves from behind him.

He slowly turns to look assuming it is just a regular soldier, but is in for a big surprise when he sees that it is none other than Rain.

"R-Rain? What are you doing here?"

Rain takes a couple more steps toward him and replies, "I just want to talk with you."

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 4|Rain on the Battlefield)]]
| Return to [[Dantega|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 6|(Part 3)]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Dantega

2013-06-09T04:32:22Z

68.111.158.48:

[[Image:DantegaCover.png||260px|thumb|right|alt text]]

Dantega is a light novel written and illustrated by [[User:Deck of cards|Deck of cards]].

==Story Synopsis==
Based 1000 years after the battle of Armageddon and the Apocalypse...

The human race has virtually started over and is trying to put the pieces of its past glory back together. But with God's enemies still lurking in the shadows, the world is once again thrown into chaos by Damien, the son of the Devil, when he kidnaps a group of young royals and sends them to Purgatory.

The princes and princesses were set to be married in an attempt at world peace by the three largest kingdoms of Troy, Eiyazalo, and La'Juune. And their simultaneous disappearances sends a ripple of hate through the world.

Due to certain events, two men join the group of royals, one named Ubica, who holds tremendous power and along with it a mysterious past. And Rage, who is actually the Angel of Death.

This is all according to Damien's somewhat unknown plan to start a world war amongst the humans.

In order to stop this war, the group must travel through the 5 gates of Purgatory and escape back to Earth before the world is again thrown into utter turmoil.

However, to accomplish this, they must find their way through this new world, fight through its residents, the 'Gatekeepers', Demons from Hell, and even themselves.

== Updates ==
*25 April 2013: Dantega project re-initiated.

== Series Information ==
*'''Genre:''' Action, Romance, Tragedy
*'''Author:''' Deck of cards
*'''Illustrator:''' Deck of cards
*'''Volumes:''' 1-8
*'''Series Status:''' Ongoing

===Format Standards===
'''Every chapter (after editing) must conform to the general format guidelines.'''
*[[Format_guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]

===[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5031 Feedback]===
'''If you enjoyed the teasers, why don't you tell us in the [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5031 Feedback Thread]'''

==Dantega==

===Volume 1===

::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Prologue|Prologue]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 1|End of Royalty]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 2|First Contact]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 3|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 4|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 5|The Map to the Gates]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 6|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 7|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 8|The Devil's Advocates]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 9|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 10|(Part 3)]]

===Volume 2===

::*[[Dantega:Volume 2 Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 1|Her and the King]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 2|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 3|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 4|Rain on the Battlefield]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 5|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 6|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 7|Night of the Ball]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 8|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 9|(Part 3)]]

===Volume 3===

::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 1|Northbound Reunion]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 2|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 3|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 4|Revelation]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 5|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 6|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 7|Trust]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 8|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 9|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 10|The Ransom]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 11|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 12|(Part 3)]]

===Volume 4===

::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 1|Pursuit on the Water]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 2|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 3|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 4|One Step Behind]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 5|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 6|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 7|666 The Mark of the Beast]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 8|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 9|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 10|An Angel's Revenge]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 11|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 12|(Part 3)]]

===Volume 5===

::*[[Dantega:Volume 5 Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 5 Chapter 1|Movement on the Chessboard]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 5 Chapter 2|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 5 Chapter 3|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 5 Chapter 4|Their Rebellion]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 5 Chapter 5|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 5 Chapter 6|(Part 3)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 5 Chapter 7|Checkmate]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 5 Chapter 8|(Part 2)]]
::*[[Dantega:Volume 5 Chapter 9|(Part 3)]]

==Project Staff==

*Project Administrator: [[User:Deck of cards|Deck of cards]]
*Project Supervisor:

===Translators===

[[User:Deck of cards|Deck of cards]]

===Editors===

==Project Status==

Project Status: '''Ongoing'''
[[Category:Hosted Projects]]
[[Category:Original]]

Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 4

2013-06-09T04:21:39Z

68.111.158.48:

Chapter 14: Rain on the Battlefield

(PART 1)

"It looks like my father died." says a girl with long black hair that parts at her shoulders.

She is reading a notice that a man had just handed her with her bright blue eyes.

She puts the letter in her desk and gestures the man to leave the room, the man obliges and leaves her to her lonesome.

She sighs and leans back, she rubs her temples and says to herself, "At least you didn't go out completely disgraced."

The girl rests her head on her hand and looks to a framed picture, in it is herself and her father, the man in the picture is Ditreig.

Ditreig Von Ronheim to be exact, the man who was once the Commanding General of the Eiyalazonian military. But due to the failure during the Battle of La'Juune, he was disgraced and demoted all the way to private.

This girl is in a mid sized room that is very clean but the desk in which she sits is very messy with papers and books scattered on it; hundreds of books rest on shelves that line the circular walls. The entirety of this room is made from fine wood that glosses perfectly in the light.

She sits there in silence and leans back in her chair when she hears the door knock.

"Come in."

The door opens and in comes a radiant man who looks to be in his early twenties, he has dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes.

"I heard the news..." he said with a sympathetic look on his face.

The girl laughs, "I don't need anything along the lines of pity Prince Dice."

The man named Dice is the older brother of Daey and Niera, he is the only son of the King of Eiyalazo and the heir to the throne.

But one wouldn't know this judging by the way this girl fails to address him as so.

"So skidaddle." she hisses while waving the back of her hand at him.

Dice shuts the door behind him and stays in the room.

"No."

The girl frowns and looks away in annoyance. "Cut it with the honor act, I can see what you're trying to do and it's not going to work."

"i just want to be of help to you..."

"That's something you couldn't do because I don't need help with anything. And even if I did, I doubt you'd be of any use."

Dice looks troubled and shifts his gaze to the ground, it is obvious that he has been effected by her harsh words but it would seem that he is trying his hardest to hold it in.

The girl glares at him and faintly smiles, "On second thought, perhaps you can help me."

His face lightens up in excitement. "Really? What is it?"

She lifts a pen in her hand and twirls it in her fingers as she says, "I want you to make an exception on the no fighting women clause for the military."

"Huh? Why do you want me to do that?"

She stops twirling the pen and frowns, "I thought you said you wanted to help me?"

"Well yeah but I won't be able to do something like that without a good reason."

The girl stands and walks to him, she looks him in the eye and simply says, "I want you to convince the King to allow me to fight in battle."

"You meant you!? I can't just put you into danger like that!"

She lifts her hand and slides it across his face softly. She can feel him melt in her palm as though he were hypnotized.

"Say my name."

"Huh?"

"What I said is exactly what I want you to do... Say my full name Prince Dice."

He stares into her sky blue eyes and says, "Rain... Rain Von Ronheim."

She again faintly smiles and gently shoves him away. "Very good, now think about that name and ask yourself why I would want to fight."

He lets loose the tension in his shoulders and drops his head when he quietly says,

"Revenge..."

"That's right, I want to find the one who killed my father. I refuse to allow that name to be rubbed into the mud any more than it already has."

Dice has a bad feeling about all of this but he knows how important these kind of things are to the Eiyalazonian people. This country's residents are filled to the brim with over exhuming pride, so much so that it's sinful.

He turns his back and opens the door, on his way out he says, "I'll see what I can do."

He then shuts the door behind him, leaving Rain alone.

She looks out of the window and looks at the view of massive trees, unlike the forest in which her father died in, this place is more of a tree lined utopia. Almost every house is made of white stone and marble, they do this because even though there is an abundance of wood, in case of a fire they can hide safely in their extravagant homes that are close to completely fire retardant while the firemen try to stop the blaze. The streets are made out of smooth and hardened wood making the huge city look like it blends in with the forest ground even with the anomalous looking homes and buildings.

Rain takes a deep breath and once again turns away, but this time it is back to her desk. On there sits a large piece of paper that looks a lot like a map.

Looking closely, one can see that this is a battle plan, the green and red marks signify the Eiyalazonians, the yellow marks the La'Juutians, and the blue marks the Trojans. The blue is clashing with the red on the east side and the yellow is clashing with the red on the west.

This is without a doubt a battle plan, she points her finger on the big circle of red and green that is based in the center of Eiyalazo and slides it up northwest, she taps it on a spot of the map that is apart of Troy.

"This is where I'll fight, if I'm correct in my assessment, our troops will head to the Trojan city of Tronoble and fight the main core of Trojan soldiers that are stationed there. Judging by this map, the La'Juutians will head there as well."

Rain doesn't know which opposing army assassinated Ditreig, but she is almost positive that it was the Trojans. And it turns out she happens to know exactly what branch of the Trojan military that was located the closest to her father's location at the time of his death.

(The 105th Specialist Division.) she thinks to herself.

With her finger she plots out where they will be and finds that their force will be a road block to Tronoble.

"Hmph... I will annihilate this division and head to what will be the biggest battle of the war. And with my leadership, there will be a grand victory for Eiyalazo."

Rain is only seventeen, but she is the best Battlefield Strategist in the country. Though there hasn't been a war before this one to show off her skills, much like Prince Noah of La'Juune, she showed incredible genius in her simulations and that alone allowed her to be part of the elite group of non military strategists. But when one of her plans was used in the offensive against Troy and it succeeded greatly, she was promoted and throughout the four battles she has been involved in she holds a perfect record, and thus her rise up to this rank was quick and painless.

She laughs and walks out of the door, she is in what Eiyalazo boasts to be the largest castle in the world, and that is very true. This castle is made of marble and stone just like the other houses and buildings but this is on an other worldly scale; it is at least a eighty stories high at its high point and stretches more than a half mile from its east wing to its west. On the top of the castle, just above the penthouse is a hundred yards of garden and trees that stand above all else, and this is where Rain is heading.

After walking for quite some time, she reaches the stairway that leads to double doors, once opened, she finds her self in a Garden of Eden type environment.

In the center of this sits a massive tree, and many different kinds of fruit trees tatter the area. Other than the small cobblestone pathway that winds through them, the ground is all grass and other crops of vegetables and fruit. Not to be outdone, flowers of every color line the pathway giving this place the feel of a fairy tale that belongs in a painting.

Just ahead sits a bench more towards the edge of the roof, allowing it to own the most spectacular view in all of the country. Rain sits on the bench, sighs, and lays on her back; from where the sun is positioned and the trees that hang overhead makes a partial shadow that casts over her face and body.

She ganders at the sunlight through the trees and listens to the birds sing, their melodies make her a little tired so as soon as she rests her eyes she falls asleep.

"...Rain."

Her name being called rings through her head and wakes her from her sleep, she opens up her eyes and the first thing she notices is that the sun is shining lower and the scenery has more of an orange tint due to star's decent behind the horizon. The shadow that once cast over her body is now gone and her own shadow is facing the opposite way.

(How long was I asleep for?) she asks herself as she rubs her eyes.

It is close to sundown and the light is beginning to reach the horizon.

"Did you enjoy your sleep Rain?"

Rain turns to the voice and sees a man wearing a crown dressed in royal garments, he has black hair and light brown eyes. His well groomed appearance exudes class and the way he stands perfectly astute with his chest puckered out almost makes seem arrogant.

Next to him is a woman, she is rather tall and has very light off red hair and light off red eyes that can be considered pink. The woman smiles and says, "We couldn't find you in your office, but we always know that we can find you here."

Rain makes eye contact with the two and bows. "I must apologize for having you two look for me."

The man stands astute with his hands held behind his back and properly responds, "That's beside the point, Prince Dice asked us a for a favor on your behalf."

Rain stands up and stiffens, "Yes sir."

The man rubs his beard and says, "The rules of military have been in place since this country's founding, and I do not want to do anything that desecrates the honor of our founding fathers."

When he says this Rain has to struggle to not frown, she holds it in as he continues.

"But, this is a world war, and if we lose we run the risk of not even having a country after this. So after careful consideration with my wife, I decided to allow you to join the military as a Brigadier General, but I will not allow you to fight. Your skills as a strategist far surpass your worth as an expendable soldier. I hold a strong belief that you leading a mass of soldiers from the front lines will be much needed to secure a future for our country."

Rain once again bows and says to them both, "King and Queen Di'Vore... I give you my humble thanks."

The man turns and walks away into the garden, before he disappears in the greenery he says his final words, "I'll have you sent to the 1st Royal Army division. What you do with them, will entirely be up to you... I pray you don't end up like your father."

"Yes sir."

"Don't take offense in Gile's words about your father... I'm sure he's just worried about you. You are very close to our children so he considers you to be very important." said the Queen.

Rain sits back down on the bench and says, "I didn't take offense Queen Di'Vore."

The Queen smiles and waves her hand, "Now now, no need to be so formal with me Rain, you can call me Dianna."

Rain stays silent, she looks uncomfortable with calling the leading woman of the country by her first name.

Dianna sighs and puts her hand on Rain's shoulder, "I hope one day you can consider me more as a friend rather than the Queen."

Rain bows and seemingly ignores her words when she replies, "I shall try my best to do so Queen Dianna."

Dianna chuckles and begins to walk away. "You know, my son cares for you greatly... So please be safe out there."

Now alone, the weight of the King and Queen's presence is lifted off her shoulders, she takes a deep breath and looks out over the city that stretches to the horizon that is enveloping the sun. Rain frowns and feels a gripping pressure in her chest.

"If only you two knew how much I despise you both."

Rain has held a great hatred for King Gile and Queen Dianna ever since the Battle of La'Juune.

She feels this way because of the public humiliation of her father Ditreig when he was dishonored and demoted all the way to the lowest rank in the military. Because they came from nobility beforehand, they still had courtship status so Ditreig shrugged it off and took it in stride. But it really effected the young Rain, she was made fun of and shunned upon by all of her peers and even when she tried to cope, it became impossible to ignore when her mother committed suicide because of the constant embarrassment.

Since Ditreig was out doing grunt work in the army, Rain was left alone in what she felt as a hostile environment of the castle at the young age of twelve. In her mind and logic, all of this grief was caused by the King and Queen when they chose to disgrace her father. It was bad enough that the army had failed miserably when victory was in their hands, there was no need to punish their own men by rubbing salt into their wounds.

This has grown into such a hate for her leaders that she contemplated assassination. However, due to her friendship with Princess Daey she renounced her intent to do so.

So now the only thing she cares or thinks about is finding who killed her father and exacting her revenge.

Sure, she sill has a lingering thought in the back of her mind of what she would do about this hate if the currently missing Daey were to turn up dead. Yet somehow, she comes to the conclusion that she would uphold her decision not to act upon it.

Back when she was younger, the only person that came to her aid and comfort was none other than Daey Di'Vore. Daey supported her when her father was dishonored and joined her in mourning when her mother passed, and she did this despite all of their other contemporaries shunning her. With Daey's support, the bullying stopped and she was able to resume her normal life and proceed in her career as a Strategist.

For this she is forever indebted and she will never forget it.

The sun sets and Rain watches the first star shine in the sky followed by the first street light to shine on the ground.

"Though I must give you my regards for allowing me join the military, I must forfeit your order for me not to fight." She stands and walks down the pathway. "I only have one goal, and in order for me fulfill it, I must do it with my own two hands."

Just a few feet in front of her stands Dice, he looks troubled and it seems like he's been there for a while. At first Rain thinks that he might of heard her talk to herself but she realizes that the point from where they're standing is close to a hundred yards away from the bench she was resting on.

"Have you been waiting for me?" she asks.

Dice leans against a tree and replies, "Yeah... So my parent's talked to you right?"

"That's right."

"I know my parents gave you their approval, but I must ask you to reconsider."

With a voice full a discontent she bluntly replies,

"No."

Dice frowns and raises his tone, "What if you were captured!? You could die out there! You cou-----"

Rain interrupts his speech by holding her hand out and pointing her index finger up.

"Why would you care?"

Dice's shoulders jolt and he takes a step back.

"Because I... I!"

"Because you what?" Rain asks with a straight face.

Dice again jumps back and shouts, "I care for you Rain! I don't want anything to happen to you."

"That doesn't answer my question, I already knew that. What I want to know is why you even bother with such a useless feeling. I treat you like shit you know..? Are you some kind of masochist?"

Her words are poisonous like venom, this really does prove her point on how she treats the Prince.

But Dice doesn't care, with a serious face he takes a step closer to her and says, "I don't need a reason to love someone."

"Pfft..." Rain puffs, "Hahahahaha you've got to be kidding me."

Once again, a brutal reply to the conveying of his feelings.

He stands his ground and stares into her eyes.

Rain folds her arms and asks, "Well, if you're not kidding, I must ask you what kind of love that is?"

"Huh?"

"You should know what I mean Prince Dice, I do believe you have your love placed in the wrong person for the wrong reasons."

Dice looks confused and asks, "I don't get where you're going with this."

"I am trying to say that I'm not your sisters. And I don't need to be doted on by you like they were."

She continues to throw arrows into his heart by saying such harsh words, unfortunately for him this is exactly what she feels.

Back when they were younger, Dice always took care of Daey and Niera to the highest intensity. So much so that Rain thought he really had a sister complex. Once they disappeared the devastation he felt could be seen a mile away, and ever since then he has been acting the same way towards Rain as he did his two younger sisters.

Rain finds this kind of thing pathetic, she thinks it would be similar to her situation if she would run to older men and beg them to become her father, or the same with her mother. This kind of love is something she wants no part of, and even though she knows this is Dice's way of coping, she won't budge in her decision to ignore his feelings until he realizes that she is not his sisters.

"That's not how it is!" Dice shouts as he puts his hand on his chest.

Rain chuckles, "It is, you just don't know it yet. Once we find Daey and Niera you'll forget all about this mess of a feeling you hold towards me."

Dice frowns and squeezes his royal over coat, this catches Rain's attention when she notices something on his hand.

"What is that on your hand?"

"O-On my hand?"

"Yeah, on your right hand, what is it?"

Dice quickly removes his hand from his chest and throws it in his pocket.

"I-It's nothing!"

Rain runs her fingers through her hair and begins to walk past him. "It's just a tattoo right? That's not such a big deal to where you need to react like that."

Dice watches her walk out of sight and nervously smiles, "That's right! It's just a tattoo!"

Once Rain leaves, Dice looks very troubled, he pulls out his right hand and looks at the tattoo. It's getting close to being completely dark and he can hardly see what's there, he moves it closer to his face and sees a black pentagram imprinted into his skin.

He laughs for a second and then frowns.

"Damn that snake... He better not be lying."

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