Conquest Of The Fallen: Dark Dominions

"I spotted nothing but roaming pandas." A scout rode back to the company and told Rafel. She was a slimfit girl and her piercings glinted in the heat: an [Adept Survivor], one of the first escorts from Helladeep. She too, like Khalifa had being at his side since the great Canyon.

"Only pandas?" Rafel asked. It was hot afternoon and they had just ended the thirty mile distance between the Skoatl Mountains and this mysterious landmark. According to Khalifa, the cold forest called the Jun Prefecture. A weather miracle, so named because of its icy climate.

Even from about ten meters away Rafel could see the rolling fog rising up the tall trees of the ghostly woods like smoke. In this wilderness roundabout, Jun Prefecture was like a smoky realm; a small world cut off from the rest. Like someone had plucked a haven from the deep north and set it down in the middle of the desert. It didn't fit.

The girl scout with the piercings replied him. She turned her own slender [Lizardron]: a mutation of a giant reptile part machine, part mage metal, part flesh creature, and joined the forward procession again. She told Rafel of what she'd seen in her brief moment scouting the cold woods.

"Yes sir. Only pandas. I didn't see wolves. Or bugs even. The temperatures are near subzero—we'll need gloves and mitten caps. I must admit, Ser, I heard about this place...fucking ice forest in the middle of nowhere, but I didn't believe it."

"You've never being in here? Either of you?" Cora said, turning between the goth chick and Khalifa.

Both shook their heads in the negative. "I was born in fire and metal," said the girl with piercings, "I don't trust ice." Then everybody looked to Rafel, waiting on him for the final command. He gulped in great lungfuls from a water bag, saying, "I don't know about you guys, but I could use a fucking weather change right about now. Spooky or not, we're going in."

He gave signal to the front march, and they all trooped the remaining five feet, crossing some sort of invisible meteorological fence into the cold mouth of the forest.

The trees had barks white as frost. And the oxygen nearly froze down the nostrils. "Where is all this fucking snow coming from?" Khalifa quizzed; she guided her beast gently through the white earth. It was so different from the brown sands just one minute ago. The snowflakes drizzled and kissed their bodies and animals. And soon Rafel could see his own breaths before him.

They allowed the camels to clop at their own pace. The huge beasts were also surprised at the sudden change of weather. Ravenna pulled out woolen and fleece jackets from a [store dimension] and passed it out to everyone. Once again, Rafel had outdone himself, nearly buying out the cold gear of the [Survivor Shop] rack.

Even Damnameneus didn't refuse a hoodie.

Rafel collected one. But just for optics. He'd never really need a warm cloth for cold. His Luciferan bloodline assured this.

They had being moving on crunching snows for about ten minutes when the company spotted their first panda. The white bear stood on two feet with circles of black eyes and fine midnight fur in its mane and limbs, and it just watched them. The High Magus held up his hand, stilling the front march. The rest of the caravan stopped too.

"Halt! Let her pass. Pandas are revered totems of Brahmin cultures." Damnameneus said. "As you were, [Ailuropoda melanoleuca]." He addressed the bear-like mammal in this weird way. Rafel was sure he heard the mighty sorcerer call the panda a she. Maybe pandas were Damnameneus kink. His companion Mage was an Ailurophile. Who was he to judge?

The she-panda bounded past them, still on her hind paws. She soon vanished into wintry moss. Damnameneus hopped off his beast.

"We walk from here."

"What? Why?" Ravenna mewled.

"You want to tell her, m'lord?" The Magus said to Israfel, who stepped easily down camelback and helped the girls down. "We're not alone in this mist, love," he told them. "My [Intuition Silkthreads] is picking on other heat signatures. And I don't mean pandas. Our druid is right. We have to walk. Better vantage point."

No sooner had he said this than an arrow came pulsing out of the fog.

Swish! It hissed for Damnameneus's head. It was flame-tipped and fast. "DUCK!" Rafel shouted. One NUR was not fast enough and the flaming arrow caught him in the neck, exploding the jugular. Red blood sprayed the snow in a smattering.

"Shit! More incoming!" Cora yelled, shielding out Ravenna and Aya. "Look alive!"

She entered [Revenant State], becoming a ghost girl in a flash, and the three fresh arrows that came whistling out the frigid woods at her passed right through her non-corporeal form. The arrows took two more lives. One escort at the rear too slow in ducking, and their Guide—the poor man had just stood there like a rock as the arrowhead entered his mouth, jutting out the back of his head in bloody bits of brain.

"Shadow Arts! Hundredhand Shield!" Cora called forth a [Spirit Art].

A hundred frightful ghost arms burst out from the snowy earth and surrounded them all like a shield. It was a bit of horror to look at, but with the swift aerial attacks, no one was complaining. More fiery arrows continued shooting out... from everywhere.

"I can't see shit in this fucking mist." Cora howled. "Show yourselves, worthless fleshbags!"

The flaming arrows stopped descending. Cora dropped [Hundredhand Shield].

Ravenna started. "Are they g—"

She didn't get a chance to finish. "As you wish." A cold voice echoed from the shadows. And out from the smoky fog, sharp silver flashed in the dim light of the forest.

Thwaaang!!!

Rafel's hand went up lightning quick. He caught the blade before ever he even deduced what type it was, or the hand that held it. Thank the Martyr for his reflexes because he was one-millionth of a second saved from swift decapitation. His right hand gripped the iron blade tightly. Blood pooled from his palm, tapping on the snow but he held on.

Only an [Epic-grade] metal could draw blood from him. Epic, and upwards.

Slowly, his leopard eyes followed the seamless double-edge of the long blade. He narrowed his yellow iris as he saw a 4ft long Katana. And the hand which held it was the hand of a Samurai. A [Rank A] Legendary Swordmaster.

Rafel had just blocked the soundless slash of a Samurai's deathblade. A very impossible feat.

"Ninjas!" Damnameneus announced loudly as his white eyes captured the black bodies falling out of high branches. Dashing soundlessly through the forest trees. Rolling over in icy snow but barely making a twig twitch. In two seconds, the whole company—those left alive were surrounded.

"Fucking ninjas!" He said again; it was the first time Rafel had heard the High Magus swear.

The Samurai with his Epic-grade Katana to Rafel's neck stepped out of the mist. He dropped his Oni mask. His face was distinctly feminine. Almost no facial hairs except for the top of his head and shapely brows. The cold voice was the same as before, and let Rafel know that this was very much a man.

"Who are you, trespasser?!"

"Fuck you, ninja!" Damnameneus answered for them all. He spat right into the face of the shadow cunt closest to him. The swordman clubbed him in the side of the head.

"Actually..." Rafel released his grip on the Katana; the wound began to sew instantly. "...these are Samurais."

"What's the difference?" Damnameneus licked at his broken lip.

"Ninjas have no honor."

This made the Samurai, obviously the leader of the sect, drop his Katana blade from Rafel's throat. He stared straight into Rafel's eyes. "You know our ways?" Rafel nodded. Hel had gotten many Samurais over the years, almost all of them on vengeance quests. Rafel said nothing though.

"I am Shingami Nihua. Prefect of the Jun Sect. I am [Mythical Survivor]."

The last part of the Samurai's introduction made everyone pause. He was at the penultimate rank to Utopian. No wonder he'd managed to creep up on a Hell prince.

Shingami sheathed his Katana. The curved blade whispered in the cold air. He then beckoned to the others to drop their swords—and Oni devil masks too. He had a red one. The samurai who bridged Damnameneus had a green one. And when the mask dropped, another collective sigh escaped the company. This Samurai was a she. And what a She she was.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

She had large magenta eyes. And her hair dropped down to her waist. Long. Straight. Dark.

Shingami followed everyone's eyes'. "This is Xifeng Nihua, my wife. And you are?"

[Ding!] Peitho intercepted Rafel's mind before his lips could part. [Say not your true name, Lord host. The Jun Prefecture is notorious for being painfully grievous to outsiders.]

Rafel smiled when he said. "Rocco. My name is Rocco Chalcone."

"Well then," Shingami Nihua, Samurai of the [Viper Sect] and Prefect of the Jun forest offered his dainty hand. Rafel wondered how it could clutch successfully a Katana, but still took it. The man was more porcelain doll than white. He gave Rafel's hand a warm, good shake, completing: ". . .welcome to Jun Prefecture, Rocco Chalcone."

"Chalcone." Rafel corrected his pronunciation. He put out the syllables. "Chal-Co-Nay!"

Shingami looked at him, like really? But then he broke out laughing. "Oh, by the Panda goddess! I like you, Mr. Chalcone. Come on, you must be cold. We have a fire in our camp." The Prefect led them on deeper into the cold woods. "Oh, by the way, sorry about your friends."

Rafel turned back to the bloodied bodies in the snow. Then turned back again. 'Martyrs in the cause of the Rebellion War they were. The first fruits.' He knew Shingami really didn't give a shit.