Sorry it's been a while folks, been busy and forgot about this thing called the "internet" 
here's the next chapter which introduces two new characters and a revelation about Rene's family. You may also enjoy the ending
Chapter 21: Retribution
Monitors blipped as they showed Faith’s heartbeat in the screen. Faith was in the intensive care unit of the castle. Doctors and nurses surrounded her making sure she was getting the correct drugs and treatment. A nurse was behind Faith doing something to her head. After a few minutes she looked up to Julius who was standing outside the room with Rene, Patricia had gone to sleep after eating with them all. Julius walked in.
Rene couldn’t hear what was being said but that didn’t bother him, despite what had happened Rene was extremely worried for Faith, she could die any second now. Julius left the room and walked towards Rene.
“They found something attached to the back of her skull, a sort of microchip, the electricity fried it, it’s probably the only reason she’s alive right now, the chip absorbed most of the shock before short-circuiting.” Julius told him wearily, he looked as though he hadn’t slept, in actual fact he hadn’t.
“Is she going to be okay?” Rene asked him concerned.
“She should be fine, she should be awake in about an hour. Until then I want you to sit in on the war-room briefing, you should find it very interesting.” Rene nodded, he’d come back later when she’s awake.
“Come with me, I’ll take you to the war-room. I should warm you though, some of the council members can be quite disrespectful to those who are younger and more powerful than they are.”
“How on earth am I more powerful?” Rene asked, they stopped outside an electronic door.
“You’re a neo-elemental, one of the rarest human beings known to man, at this time there are only two known neo-elementals, you and Vrael.” Julius told him what he already knew “Now come, once inside sit yourself next to me, if they see you by my side they should not say much.”
They entered the door and the people inside immediately went quiet, they all stood and Julius walked to a seat at the far end of the room, after a few moments hesitation Rene followed and sat in the chair on his left side. The general of the army was sat in the right..
The general was a tall, muscular man with short blonde hair, he had dark brown eyes and a well toned face. He stood at around 6”8’. He stood to speak.
“His name is Rale.” Julius informed him quietly “One of my closest allies and a brilliant tactician.” General Rale stood and spoke first.
“Exalted council members, I bid you welcome to our lords home. It is public knowledge now but just over a week ago the kingdom of Tyania was brutally destroyed by the Kinukoan empire. What you may not know is that not only were the Kinukoan’s involved but a second entity, one that has control over terrible beasts we have never encountered before has allied itself with them. We do not know what kingdom it is exactly, they are like none we have ever seen. We sent a battalion of troops into the main city to find any survivors but none have returned.”
He stopped temporarily to let everyone absorb this.
“In less than a month they will be at our doorstep. We have no choice but to strike now and make as big a mark as we possibly can.” Another man stood at this
“Is there no other way! If we do that not only will we risk our men we will lose all our defences!” A council member shouted
“And if we do not then we will let our villages burn and out citizens be murdered!” Rale shouted back.
“Silence!” Julius shouted at the two men. The councilmen sat down but Rale stayed stood. “We do not have a month, we have a year. I negotiated with the Emperor and he agreed to give us a year, the cheeky bastard taunted us saying we could use the time.”
There was a knock at the door. A woman popped her head round and smiled at the group “Sorry I’m late. I sort of got into a fight in town. Poor suckers are in hospital now.” There was a murmuring from the council members, it was obvious that they did not approve of this female. The woman was around 5”6 and quite lean she had long brown hair and green eyes, she wore a green short-sleeved jacket and white top underneath along with green shorts. She also wore green boots. On her back was a longbow and quiver with many different types of arrows, some of them were regular arrows whereas some of them were slightly strange to Rene.
Rale smiled “Ahh Lady Rowan! How nice of you to finally join us!” Rale joked with her, Rowan smiled back.
“Isn’t that what you’re wife says when you two have sex?” Rowan joked back, Rale smirked. “Heeeey! Is that the kid?” She said pointing at Rene.
“Yes it is.” Julius told her, she walked over and held her hand out.
“Rowan Nightgale! Nice to meet cha!” Rene shook her hand.
“Rene Skylar.” Rene told her shaking her hand, she looked around 20 but she could have been younger, she was very energetic.
“Can we get back to the meeting!” A councilmen shouted, Julius checked his watch and looked to Rene. “Your friend should be waking up by now.”
“Okay then, I’ll see you later. It was nice to finally meet cha. We’ll talk later.” Rene nodded and left the room. Rene found himself wondering the castle on his own for the very first time. He thought to himself that this would be a perfect time to look around. He decided that he’d have a quick snoop around before going to see Faith. He tried to open the nearest door but groaned when he found it locked. He looked around before grabbing a small piece of wire from his pocket. He inserted the wire into the lock on the door and wiggled it around. The lock clunked.
“Thank you Fil.” Rene uttered to himself. He slowly opened the door, checking to make sure no one was behind it. The room was empty. Rene quickly went forward into the room and shut the door. Everything immediately went dark, Rene instinctively went for his blade before the rooms automated lighting system kicked into effect and lit the whole room. Rene sheathed his sword and glanced about the whole room. It seemed like a library but he was sure that the castles library would be a lot bigger than this. The room was only about 10 metres wide and about one metre higher than Rene. There was a single computer. Rene grabbed the first book he could and flicked it open to a random page. It seemed like it was a diary of some sort. He read the entry.
We’re surrounded. We have supplies to last us a week at most. We have been abandoned and forgotten, like mere slaves who cannot carry his burden anymore. We were told when we joined this army that no matter what we are expendable, I just didn’t realise that this meant if we are in a losing battle we will not be helped. I can hear them now. Marching towards us, the screeching of blades leaving their sheathes.
God help us. This may be our final stand.
Rene turned the page, nothing was there, whomever this diary belonged to must have died in this battle. He flipped to the front page to see if there was a name.
General Skylar of the Rosalian Army
Loyal Husband and Father of three.
“Your father was a brave man.” A deep voice spoke. Rene spun round sword in hand. He was relieved to see it was only Rale but still kept his sword drawn.
“This couldn’t have been my father, my father was never a general and I am an only child.” Rene said, doubting his own words even as he spoke them himself.
“Your father was my teacher, I should have been in his final battle, the previous king was a tyrant, he refused to help anyone in his own army, said it showed weakness. The year after your father fell Julius was forced to defeat his father to save the land from certain destruction.” Rale frowned. “I do not know much about his other two children. I only know that his son is a fine man and a brilliant swordsmen.”
“Tell me what little you know of them, please.” Rene asked him, completely shocked at this new information.
“They were girls, according to your father they were the two most precious pieces of joy your father had ever seen. One was only a year younger than you the other was a new born.”
“I was five when he died, but I was told he was killed in a fire, so my sisters would have only been 4 and few months old. Do you not know what happened to them? My mother died only a few weeks after my father and I was taken in by Patricia Musso, Faith’s godmother.”
“I do not know, you would have to ask her that. I am sorry.” Rale apologised.
“You have nothing to apologise for. I’ll ask Patricia.” Rene finally sheathed his sword. “Why are you here anyway? I’d only just left the room when I came in here.”
“ I guessed that you’d be curious and this room is the closest one to the war room. Guess I was right huh? Come on, you’re not meant to be in here anyway. You can read the rest of your fathers diaries later, you’ll find he spoke much of you.”
Rene nodded and followed Rale to the medical room, as soon as he was outside the door, Rale stopped Rene by putting his gigantic hand on his shoulder.
“I must return to the war room, speak to this Faith before Patricia. I sense that she means a lot to you.” Rale spoke wisely, Rene looked up to the large muscular man and nodded. He opened the door and walked in.
“Hey Rene,” Abby spoke from a chair in the waiting room. “they’ve just had to take Faith to a neurological expert to assess the damage the chip that controlled her might have had.”
“Do they know how a simple chip could have controlled her?” Rene asked. He say down next to her and spotted Filden angrily kicking a vending machine.
“Well the brain is like a whole jumble of wires right? Well basically the chip was attached to the part of the brain that controls our movements. The chip sent electrical impulses into that part forcing her to do something she didn’t want to.” Abby explained. Filden finally came over, he patted Rene on the back and sat down next to him.
“S’up bro? You look knackered, try doing something that I think is called sleeping every once in a while. I think it’s meant to help.” Filden said sarcastically, cracking a grin at Rene.
“Happy 17<SUP>th</SUP> Fil.” Rene smiled.
“Hey hey! Ya remembered!” Filden shouted earning an evil look from the nurse behind a nearby counter. Filden apologised “Someone didn’t remember!” He looked at Abby who mimed the word “Sorry!” Rene smiled.
“We’ll party later on. Okay? Look here comes the doctor.” A medium sized black doctor walked towards them.
“Are you Ms. Crests friends?” The man asked, he had a slight cockney accent which made Filden grin in respect.
“Yes, we are.” Abby told him.
“You may see her now, she should be in her room, she is awake but slightly groggy.” The doctor smiled and walked away to help with another patient. Rene was the first to enter the room. Faith was sat up, eyes half-closed watching cartoons on a small television set in the corner. She spotted the trio.
“Hey.” Her first words were. Rene felt that familiar pang of anger and love. He wasn’t sure how he felt about her anymore. He felt like he loved her but was so angry that she couldn’t trust him with the knowledge about Patricia. Faith looked down at her bed. She was having trouble concentrating her vision, Abby walked over to her and sat on the side of her bed, she held Faith’s hand and squeezed it gently.
“How are you feeling?” Filden asked her.
“Pretty sparky actually.” Faith said at an attempt of humour. “Sorry, bad joke, I know. I’m sorry I betrayed you.”
There. The words were said. Now someone had to react. Someone had to say something. A few uncomfortable moments passed before
Rene realised that it was down to him to say something. He had a choice now. Forgive her and get on with it, or not forgive her and possibly make a big mistake.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Rene asked her. He had to know the truth, why couldn’t she trust him with that information?
“I don’t know, I guess I was just too damn proud to tell you. No, it wasn’t pride… I was just too scared.” Rene saw a tear fall from Faith’s eye, she looked down at the bed again, not because she couldn’t concentrate, but because she didn’t want Rene to see her crying. Some hair fell over her face. Rene walked over and and sat on the other side of Faith, opposite to Abigail. He cradled Faith’s face in his left hand and lifted it so she was looking at him. Tears fell from her face, falling gracefully over her cheek and onto her hospital gown. Rene wiped away the tears and held her close. They held onto each other. Faith smiling in happiness as tears fell from her face. Abby and Filden both realised that they should leave them alone and left the room.
“Please, just please next time trust me enough to tell me.” Rene begged her, holding back his own tears. He was just so happy to finally be with her again, to be holding her in his arms. To feel her heartbeat against his chest.
“I will, I promise, from now on there won’t be any secrets.” Faith moved away from Rene, she looked at him and smiled before gently kissing him on his lips. She leant back and closed her eyes. Going into her first peaceful sleep since she left.
“Sleep well.” Rene told her, he kissed her forehead and smiled. “I still love you, no matter what.”
here's the next chapter which introduces two new characters and a revelation about Rene's family. You may also enjoy the endingChapter 21: Retribution
Monitors blipped as they showed Faith’s heartbeat in the screen. Faith was in the intensive care unit of the castle. Doctors and nurses surrounded her making sure she was getting the correct drugs and treatment. A nurse was behind Faith doing something to her head. After a few minutes she looked up to Julius who was standing outside the room with Rene, Patricia had gone to sleep after eating with them all. Julius walked in.
Rene couldn’t hear what was being said but that didn’t bother him, despite what had happened Rene was extremely worried for Faith, she could die any second now. Julius left the room and walked towards Rene.
“They found something attached to the back of her skull, a sort of microchip, the electricity fried it, it’s probably the only reason she’s alive right now, the chip absorbed most of the shock before short-circuiting.” Julius told him wearily, he looked as though he hadn’t slept, in actual fact he hadn’t.
“Is she going to be okay?” Rene asked him concerned.
“She should be fine, she should be awake in about an hour. Until then I want you to sit in on the war-room briefing, you should find it very interesting.” Rene nodded, he’d come back later when she’s awake.
“Come with me, I’ll take you to the war-room. I should warm you though, some of the council members can be quite disrespectful to those who are younger and more powerful than they are.”
“How on earth am I more powerful?” Rene asked, they stopped outside an electronic door.
“You’re a neo-elemental, one of the rarest human beings known to man, at this time there are only two known neo-elementals, you and Vrael.” Julius told him what he already knew “Now come, once inside sit yourself next to me, if they see you by my side they should not say much.”
They entered the door and the people inside immediately went quiet, they all stood and Julius walked to a seat at the far end of the room, after a few moments hesitation Rene followed and sat in the chair on his left side. The general of the army was sat in the right..
The general was a tall, muscular man with short blonde hair, he had dark brown eyes and a well toned face. He stood at around 6”8’. He stood to speak.
“His name is Rale.” Julius informed him quietly “One of my closest allies and a brilliant tactician.” General Rale stood and spoke first.
“Exalted council members, I bid you welcome to our lords home. It is public knowledge now but just over a week ago the kingdom of Tyania was brutally destroyed by the Kinukoan empire. What you may not know is that not only were the Kinukoan’s involved but a second entity, one that has control over terrible beasts we have never encountered before has allied itself with them. We do not know what kingdom it is exactly, they are like none we have ever seen. We sent a battalion of troops into the main city to find any survivors but none have returned.”
He stopped temporarily to let everyone absorb this.
“In less than a month they will be at our doorstep. We have no choice but to strike now and make as big a mark as we possibly can.” Another man stood at this
“Is there no other way! If we do that not only will we risk our men we will lose all our defences!” A council member shouted
“And if we do not then we will let our villages burn and out citizens be murdered!” Rale shouted back.
“Silence!” Julius shouted at the two men. The councilmen sat down but Rale stayed stood. “We do not have a month, we have a year. I negotiated with the Emperor and he agreed to give us a year, the cheeky bastard taunted us saying we could use the time.”
There was a knock at the door. A woman popped her head round and smiled at the group “Sorry I’m late. I sort of got into a fight in town. Poor suckers are in hospital now.” There was a murmuring from the council members, it was obvious that they did not approve of this female. The woman was around 5”6 and quite lean she had long brown hair and green eyes, she wore a green short-sleeved jacket and white top underneath along with green shorts. She also wore green boots. On her back was a longbow and quiver with many different types of arrows, some of them were regular arrows whereas some of them were slightly strange to Rene.
Rale smiled “Ahh Lady Rowan! How nice of you to finally join us!” Rale joked with her, Rowan smiled back.
“Isn’t that what you’re wife says when you two have sex?” Rowan joked back, Rale smirked. “Heeeey! Is that the kid?” She said pointing at Rene.
“Yes it is.” Julius told her, she walked over and held her hand out.
“Rowan Nightgale! Nice to meet cha!” Rene shook her hand.
“Rene Skylar.” Rene told her shaking her hand, she looked around 20 but she could have been younger, she was very energetic.
“Can we get back to the meeting!” A councilmen shouted, Julius checked his watch and looked to Rene. “Your friend should be waking up by now.”
“Okay then, I’ll see you later. It was nice to finally meet cha. We’ll talk later.” Rene nodded and left the room. Rene found himself wondering the castle on his own for the very first time. He thought to himself that this would be a perfect time to look around. He decided that he’d have a quick snoop around before going to see Faith. He tried to open the nearest door but groaned when he found it locked. He looked around before grabbing a small piece of wire from his pocket. He inserted the wire into the lock on the door and wiggled it around. The lock clunked.
“Thank you Fil.” Rene uttered to himself. He slowly opened the door, checking to make sure no one was behind it. The room was empty. Rene quickly went forward into the room and shut the door. Everything immediately went dark, Rene instinctively went for his blade before the rooms automated lighting system kicked into effect and lit the whole room. Rene sheathed his sword and glanced about the whole room. It seemed like a library but he was sure that the castles library would be a lot bigger than this. The room was only about 10 metres wide and about one metre higher than Rene. There was a single computer. Rene grabbed the first book he could and flicked it open to a random page. It seemed like it was a diary of some sort. He read the entry.
We’re surrounded. We have supplies to last us a week at most. We have been abandoned and forgotten, like mere slaves who cannot carry his burden anymore. We were told when we joined this army that no matter what we are expendable, I just didn’t realise that this meant if we are in a losing battle we will not be helped. I can hear them now. Marching towards us, the screeching of blades leaving their sheathes.
God help us. This may be our final stand.
Rene turned the page, nothing was there, whomever this diary belonged to must have died in this battle. He flipped to the front page to see if there was a name.
General Skylar of the Rosalian Army
Loyal Husband and Father of three.
“Your father was a brave man.” A deep voice spoke. Rene spun round sword in hand. He was relieved to see it was only Rale but still kept his sword drawn.
“This couldn’t have been my father, my father was never a general and I am an only child.” Rene said, doubting his own words even as he spoke them himself.
“Your father was my teacher, I should have been in his final battle, the previous king was a tyrant, he refused to help anyone in his own army, said it showed weakness. The year after your father fell Julius was forced to defeat his father to save the land from certain destruction.” Rale frowned. “I do not know much about his other two children. I only know that his son is a fine man and a brilliant swordsmen.”
“Tell me what little you know of them, please.” Rene asked him, completely shocked at this new information.
“They were girls, according to your father they were the two most precious pieces of joy your father had ever seen. One was only a year younger than you the other was a new born.”
“I was five when he died, but I was told he was killed in a fire, so my sisters would have only been 4 and few months old. Do you not know what happened to them? My mother died only a few weeks after my father and I was taken in by Patricia Musso, Faith’s godmother.”
“I do not know, you would have to ask her that. I am sorry.” Rale apologised.
“You have nothing to apologise for. I’ll ask Patricia.” Rene finally sheathed his sword. “Why are you here anyway? I’d only just left the room when I came in here.”
“ I guessed that you’d be curious and this room is the closest one to the war room. Guess I was right huh? Come on, you’re not meant to be in here anyway. You can read the rest of your fathers diaries later, you’ll find he spoke much of you.”
Rene nodded and followed Rale to the medical room, as soon as he was outside the door, Rale stopped Rene by putting his gigantic hand on his shoulder.
“I must return to the war room, speak to this Faith before Patricia. I sense that she means a lot to you.” Rale spoke wisely, Rene looked up to the large muscular man and nodded. He opened the door and walked in.
“Hey Rene,” Abby spoke from a chair in the waiting room. “they’ve just had to take Faith to a neurological expert to assess the damage the chip that controlled her might have had.”
“Do they know how a simple chip could have controlled her?” Rene asked. He say down next to her and spotted Filden angrily kicking a vending machine.
“Well the brain is like a whole jumble of wires right? Well basically the chip was attached to the part of the brain that controls our movements. The chip sent electrical impulses into that part forcing her to do something she didn’t want to.” Abby explained. Filden finally came over, he patted Rene on the back and sat down next to him.
“S’up bro? You look knackered, try doing something that I think is called sleeping every once in a while. I think it’s meant to help.” Filden said sarcastically, cracking a grin at Rene.
“Happy 17<SUP>th</SUP> Fil.” Rene smiled.
“Hey hey! Ya remembered!” Filden shouted earning an evil look from the nurse behind a nearby counter. Filden apologised “Someone didn’t remember!” He looked at Abby who mimed the word “Sorry!” Rene smiled.
“We’ll party later on. Okay? Look here comes the doctor.” A medium sized black doctor walked towards them.
“Are you Ms. Crests friends?” The man asked, he had a slight cockney accent which made Filden grin in respect.
“Yes, we are.” Abby told him.
“You may see her now, she should be in her room, she is awake but slightly groggy.” The doctor smiled and walked away to help with another patient. Rene was the first to enter the room. Faith was sat up, eyes half-closed watching cartoons on a small television set in the corner. She spotted the trio.
“Hey.” Her first words were. Rene felt that familiar pang of anger and love. He wasn’t sure how he felt about her anymore. He felt like he loved her but was so angry that she couldn’t trust him with the knowledge about Patricia. Faith looked down at her bed. She was having trouble concentrating her vision, Abby walked over to her and sat on the side of her bed, she held Faith’s hand and squeezed it gently.
“How are you feeling?” Filden asked her.
“Pretty sparky actually.” Faith said at an attempt of humour. “Sorry, bad joke, I know. I’m sorry I betrayed you.”
There. The words were said. Now someone had to react. Someone had to say something. A few uncomfortable moments passed before
Rene realised that it was down to him to say something. He had a choice now. Forgive her and get on with it, or not forgive her and possibly make a big mistake.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Rene asked her. He had to know the truth, why couldn’t she trust him with that information?
“I don’t know, I guess I was just too damn proud to tell you. No, it wasn’t pride… I was just too scared.” Rene saw a tear fall from Faith’s eye, she looked down at the bed again, not because she couldn’t concentrate, but because she didn’t want Rene to see her crying. Some hair fell over her face. Rene walked over and and sat on the other side of Faith, opposite to Abigail. He cradled Faith’s face in his left hand and lifted it so she was looking at him. Tears fell from her face, falling gracefully over her cheek and onto her hospital gown. Rene wiped away the tears and held her close. They held onto each other. Faith smiling in happiness as tears fell from her face. Abby and Filden both realised that they should leave them alone and left the room.
“Please, just please next time trust me enough to tell me.” Rene begged her, holding back his own tears. He was just so happy to finally be with her again, to be holding her in his arms. To feel her heartbeat against his chest.
“I will, I promise, from now on there won’t be any secrets.” Faith moved away from Rene, she looked at him and smiled before gently kissing him on his lips. She leant back and closed her eyes. Going into her first peaceful sleep since she left.
“Sleep well.” Rene told her, he kissed her forehead and smiled. “I still love you, no matter what.”
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