Zuria, Kes and Des proceeded down through the exotic enclave, with one of the islands large bridges extending out nearby and out into the bay. They spotted a few bored guards hanging around outside a warehouse door. As they made their way over they were stopped by an old brown-skinned man. "We don't want your kind here, Walker" he spat, prodding Zuria's leg with a stick.
"I'd suggest the three of you leave"
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The two men near the entrance lunged towards Nettil, but Dalrel stopped both, one with a sword through the throat, and another with a stream of fire.
Suddenly the room lit up. Icicles crystalised on the roof and illuminated the hollow.
"Well, isn't this a surprise." said a voice from a podium on the far side of the room.
"What?" asked Nettil.
Dalrel turned, "What? Oh shit."
The snow elf stood there with shining silver hair and a singed lilac dress. Her skin was the colour of a puddle, she had a large scar over her torso, and had an expression of satisfaction on her face with a crew of guards by her side.
"Remember me? I remember you, Ilyaran. The arena back in one of those Liemian worlds?" She grimaced. "You left me to die." she said, massaging her scar. "And you!" she exclaimed, pointing at Kyras. "You're the reason I have
this."
Dalrel could hardly believe what he was seeing, the woman shouldn't be alive, yet here she is, trying to kill them.
She then turned her attention to Nettil. "Oh, and the body must have been one of your employees, glad to see you're
finally taking responsibility."
She then looked up to the light filtering into her sanctum.
Dalrel piped up. "Who are you and why are you here?" but the snow elf only giggled in response. "You think I matter? This has been prepared for much,
much longer than I've been here. I just made the mistake of getting lost between Horizons. Oh but after the Liemians mistook me for dead, arriving here was just a hop and a skip away-"
"You haven't answered his question. What have you been doing with the water" interrupted Nettil.
"Storing it. Redirecting it. We'll need every drop if the invasion is to be a success."
"Oh, you didn't know about the fleet? It's already set sail from the north, thousands of troops ready to storm this island, but there's already thousands here." She explained.
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Sal slammed the door to the ambassador's door open, "Cyar, I-" he paused, witnessing his cousin making a loud groan as a hooded figure sliced his throat open, the ambassador collapsing to the floor. The hooded figure turned his attention to Sal, and all he could think to do was run.
Alex, he thought. "Alex!" he shouted, running for the ampitheatre, eyes obscured by tears.
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Nettil was trying to wrap her head around what she was hearing, trying to process how this was happening.
"The towers are a symbol of decadence and power for your people. Destroying them will signal a new era" She smiled and pointed at one of the drains. "Why do you think we needed so much water? Erosion. The west tower has some lackluster foundations..."
They heard a rumble in the distance. "Ah," the snow elf said, smiling, staring back down at the group. "It's starting..."
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Alex was seated densely into the ampitheatre as a loud rumble shook the room. There was some commotion, but it was all trumped by a deafening burst of noise. Dust flooded the room from the western corridors, and the exits each had 3 guards clad in blue enamelled armour. Suddenly the Empress wasn't in her private box, and from the dust blue lights flashed amongst the screams. The noble nearest to Alex's exit was swiftly shot by a crossbow from one of the guards, the weapon emitting the flash efficiently.
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"If I were you, I'd run Ilyaran." The snow elf told him in a deranged manner.
"You six, finish them off." She said, as her and the rest of her squad disappeared down a cavern and into the light of the city.
Immediately Dalrel was met with the clash of a sword, and Nettil took control of one of the vines to disable the archer from above, which left another the two guards behind them, and the three in their way.
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Lucia was left idol in the lobby as Sal flew past her without mention.
The rumble had people staring out the large open windows. "The tower! It's falling!" Looking outside showed the bronze-coloured tower to be crumbling, and folding in on itself.
Suddenly soldiers were coming up the stairs with weapons drawn. Without warning two soldiers, a ginger woman and a black man, were stabbing them and ordering any onlookers to run. "Hurry!" One of them screeched.
The lift then opened, with 3 blue-armoured guards appearing. After stepping out of the lift, they stabbed the two Earth attendants as two went to battle the other soldiers, and one pointed a crossbow at Lucia's head.
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"Alex!" Sal shouted from down the dust-filled hallway. "Get out of there!" He inaccurately produced an ice shard and hurled it at one of the guards. It stunned one and brought them to their knee, as another guard stopped shooting into the crowd and turned around, confused.