The Challenger

by Harlon Banks

  "Just in the nick of time too..." The amnesic couldn't help but exasperate over the thought of him having missed his opportunity and being stuck in there forever. Eyeing the now dull grey crystal dangling off the chain and stuffing it in his pocket before glancing over the shoulder at the direction of those corpses. A solemn look overtaking his gaze for a few moments as the night shifted with another sway of wind.

  "... Thank you." He said quietly towards the deceased students. Though they may have perished tragically, they saved him posthumously and for that he were grateful. "I'll see that you all are buried right... Rest in peace."

  With that said Jonath turned his back to them and took a deep breath. Calming his mind as he opened his eyes again and turned to take off in the direction he assumed and hoped Luminous City was. He had a lot to do...

  He had to find Jeremy first and foremost...

  Veralen - Eyes of the Yelkath

  A/N - Sorry about the couple of day delay all! Had a bit of trouble trying to decide how I wanted to write this chapter and struggled quite a bit putting it together. After a couple extra days of working on it I think I'm able to release it now without regret. Hope you enjoy! Also the way you pronounce it is No-Roy-Gan.

  The Challenger Chapter Twenty - Veralen - Eyes of the Yelkath

  Caw! Caw! Caw!

  The crow cries out into the eternal night with powerful vigor, taking off into the skies. Liariana looking above at the avian creature right as she stepped past the tree line of the Luminous Forest and into the vast valley beyond; Luminous City standing tall and proud in the far distance North. Her skyward gaze settling on the robust mountain that the city sits carved into with quiet awe. The magnificent stone arch that soared across the open valley below from her view seemed to crest over the city like a rainbow of rock as a much more profound breeze met her features blowing back black hair and caressing her skin. The wide open space of the landscape before her a far cry from the tight and tangled thickness of the forest at her rear. No doubt without a carriage or some quicker form of transportation it'd take at least a day or so to reach the city but with something like a raptor or mammoth or even an off terrain vehicle, that day long trip shortened to a matter of hours.

  Looking over her shoulder one last time at the forest. Her crimson eyes quietly mulling over the events that happened earlier, Liariana sighed quietly to herself. Her right hand moving to comfort the tingling sensation in her left from the recoil of that blast she fired at Jonath. The bandages that wrapped her entire arm having withstood the power of the flames she had generated when attacking Jonath, left unscathed. Eyes then looking down towards the glass cube holding the black and red spherical object within it strapped to her waist, a twisted looking object to lay eyes upon. Liariana would be a fool to believe something like this was just a simple treasure Wren and Draven wanted. Oh well, not like she cared either way; she had her own problems to deal with.

  An approaching dark-colored Jeep drove into view from behind a small hill of the valley, headed towards Liariana's direction. Her monotone gaze focusing on the speeding off terrain vehicle with quiet impatience as she reached to untie the cube off her waist and hold it in her right hand. The moonlight above shrouded by a small clump of clouds now shadowing the valley in darkness. Only the headlights of the jeep coming her way and the far-reaching ones of Luminous City could be seen in the blackness of this potent shade.

  A few minutes later and the jeep slowed to a half a yards away from her place at the tree line. Red eyes narrowing in disgust when two voices chatted within the vehicle and Draven hopped off the passenger side to the ground with a quiet grunt. As he stepped off the truck, the clouds left the moon and the light shone back over the valley. The Yelkath's eyes looking into the green hues of the slightly overweight and equal height to her black mailing man with a calm gaze that betrayed the disgust she felt towards him. Draven gesturing in welcome as he walked her way with head raised high and a smile across his pudgy yet gruff features. His well-kept short brown hair and light goatee along with his expensive looking black suit with tie odd in contrast to the setting around him of wilderness. The Jeep shutting off shortly afterwards.

  "There goes my favorite employee! Having done her job to the letter as asked and effortlessly brought me what I asked for!" His smokers voice coughed mid speech as he lowered thick arms back to his wide framed sides to slide into clean, crisp khaki pants. Liariana turning her stare to the mercenary hopping out the driver's side features obscured by mask and military armor from head to toe with an assault rifle held in his arms. Draven catching her staring at his associate and quickly shaking head dismissively at any negative thoughts she might have had about the stranger.

  "Oh do not worry." Draven assured with another smile that were genuine despite the relationship he and Liariana had. Thumbing over his shoulder at the stalwart standing mercenary and continuing on. "He's just here as custom, never leave the house without protection you know?" He chuckled at the woman who returned the laughter with a cold stare. The man's light green eyes peering down at the transparent cube held in her hand and widening when it looked at the black and red inscribed sphere within. Quickly stepping towards her hand extended to take it off her hands as he nearly drooled over what he were looking at!

  Liariana upon his approach continued to hold the artifact out palm open and watching his hands reach for it. However before he could take it out of her grasp the Yelkath pulled her hand away much to his astonishment and the two looked each other in the eyes when she spoke.

  "You don't get this until you do your side of the agreement we had in its entirety." Liariana said calm, cold and dead serious in her words. The mercenary off to the side looking at her behind his black visored helmet and arms steady locked before his person with one another, he didn't look like he found anything wrong with her words. Draven staring into her now soft glowing red eyes with silent awe at how vivid the red coloration was... How it accentuated the hollow stare she gave him and even brought out the beauty of her pale skin, black hair and refined features. Truly this woman was a young beauty...

  "Ah... I remember what those eyes of yours are called now." Draven took a step back from her and frisked his suit pulling out a cigar to light as Liariana narrowed her gaze at him momentarily. Sparks bursting into flames from the lighter beneath the end of the cigar; Draven taking a deep puff into his lungs. Ashen colored smoke leaving his lips politely in a direction away from the woman's face as he gestured with his other hand two fingers to her eyes. "The Yelkath are known not only for their swordsman skills but also the ominous eyes they have too yes? Eyes capable of instilling fear in even the toughest warriors of the east with debilitating supernatural visual powers..." Draven paused, scratching under his chin as if thinking about something.

  "Those red eyes of yours are the Veralen, or 'Cursed Eyes' are they not? I remember now reading about it! People of your clan who have the Veralen are considered bad omens... 'Bringers of Apocalypse' as the legends say. I find it amazing how an entire bloodline gained such a dark title despite their combat capabilities and visual powers. Mind telling me what ties it all together? What is your ancestors secret? Why is the Veralen so feared in the East?" He glanced her way with a devious smile after asking his question. Liariana neither confirming or denying his assumption and merely tightening her grip around the artifact in her possession. Red eyes glowing a bit stronger in luminescence and more ominous in their powerful gaze as she reiterated her earlier remark to him.

  "If you don't want this destroyed I'd suggest you stop wasting my time and tell me what I want to know." She stated again in a tranquil tone, however the impatience that laced her words didn't go unnoticed. Draven rolling his eyes and sighing to himself as he took another deep puff of his cigar and paced waving the burning cancer stick through the air while he responded as if it were a glow stick.

  "Yes yes I did say I'd help you if you help me relax. Child." He said exasperate turning to face her with serious tone and posture no
w. The momentary silence between the two accompanied by the rustling of greenery in the wind behind and the faint howling of a pack of wolves somewhere in the distance. "However I have to ask, are you positive you took care of the other one who assisted you on your travel within the ruins?" as he asked this his voice seemed more and more pressed about getting a direct answer.

  "Do you see him with me?" Liariana said dryly as her gaze never left the man. Draven chuckling to himself, apparently the girl knew what rhetorical questions were and how to humorously use them in serious situations. She wasn't as empty on the inside as he'd imagined her to be, fun.

  "No, I don't. However I didn't ask if he were with you now... I asked if you can guarantee that you killed him?" He restated with a flick of the cigar and another blow of thick smoke from his lungs which made Liariana hold her breath momentarily to avoid inhaling it.

  "He's dead." Liariana responded again in a glassy voice, her fingers curled around the flat surfaces of the cube tighter as the glass began to slightly deform from the surprising strength she were exerting on it. "I'm getting tired of your delays; enact your side of the deal or this artifact is mine." She ordered in a slighter more demanding voice. Red eyes narrowing as a very slight scowl graced her lips.

  "Hmm... Yeah about that..." Draven tossed the cigar aside after snuffing it out and dusting off his suit. Liariana shifting her weight as he muttered out those words. Green eyes looking back into red, Draven sneered at her and gestured openly to her once more. At this point what came next was already known to the woman before it even left his lips.

  "Truth be told I'm fully aware of your crimes in the east; as well as the reward that comes with turning you in. I brought you all the way out here with offer of sanction just so I could use you to get a little side endeavor of mine done with a top quality specimen." He chuckled glancing momentarily to the Mercenary at his left by the jeep whom pulled out his rifle and took aim directly at Liariana. The sky above darkening once more as thick clouds blotted out the moonlight, shrouding the land in dimness that grew ever more potent by the second. Liariana closing her eyes and sighing deeply to herself in silence, she should have known it'd turn out like this.

  How pathetic...

  "Now that I've got my artifact I have no real reason to risk my neck protecting you from those Hunters anymore. You did good, I'll give you that much praise. However now it's time to face the music and atone for your sins yeah? Nothing personal, Miss Yelkath. Just business as usual. Remember the strong do not run the world, the smart do!" He waggled a finger at her as the mercenary approached her gun still raised to retrieve the cube out of her hand. Red eyes opening again as the darkness around them peaked in intensity and the profound glow of her now slit pupil and quivering red eyes made Draven's heart skip a beat. However that fear quickly covered itself by more bravado at the advantage he had over her now.

  "Did you seriously think someone would go out of their way to protect you from the people hunting you? Especially considering the vast reward your heart whether beating or not would bring? Like seriously it was so easy to make up knowing anything about whoever you were chasing and just tricking you into do-"

  "You want to know about these eyes of mine... right?" Liariana asked softly as the shroud of night took her form and swept it away in the growing darkness. Her body becoming harder and harder to see in the moonlight growing dimmer and dimmer by the second until it was completely snuffed out by the clouds above.

  As Liariana vanished into the cover of the moons absence; The mercenaries delayed gunshots sparked across the barrel firing into the air missing anything of value. Draven suddenly panicked and looked around, he couldn't see her! Where was she!? Green eyes struggling to see in the raw darkness around them beyond the tree line, fumbling around for his lighter in his pocket trying to hastily brighten the area around him.

  Draven abandoned that idea and bolted!

  "Dammit find her! Find her and kill her!" Draven urgently ordered the mercenary as he ran towards the jeep to escape. As his hand touched the door however, a horrific scream coming from the throat of the merc pierced his ears followed by the sound of a blade cutting flesh in one swiftly lethal blow. Slowly turning around, body shivering now as green eyes peered into the glowing red hues of Liariana pushing aside the impaled from behind merc and flicking the blood off her ninjato on the grass. Her combat boots crushing grass blades beneath her feet, steps silent as a panther as the gleaming red of her eyes reflected off the blade brought up to her face. The rest of her body barely seen or heard in this thick blanket of night.

  The stare she were giving him was ice-cold, nigh sociopathic if not outright inhuman. Her eyes began to further morph in their eery appearance as she got closer and closer to him.

  Draven fell on his ass scrambling backwards and cursing profusely as he reached in his back pocket to pull out a small pistol from under his shirt and take aim. Hand shivering as weapon clanked and rattled in his grasp barely able to line up a shot on Liariana's ominously slow approaching. Staring into her eyes were like staring into the eyes of some monster... This fear shivering him to his bones as the quiet, calm malice emanating from her glowing gaze was astoundingly potent.

  "My Veralen's distinct abilities, since you're so interested in them... I'll show you the one I'm about to use on you. It'll only be once though, so pay close attention." Liariana swung her sword slashing a bullet in half casually as the pistol sparked from Draven's trigger pull. The barrel sparked again, Liariana knocked it away with the flat of her sword this time. The bullet ricocheted into the headlight of the jeep shattering the glass with a loud crash. The trigger pulled again, and again and again and again until the clip were empty. Each time the bullet either being slashed apart in one swift cut of sharpened steel and terrifying precision or reflected away as if they were nothing more than an after thought. The entire time Liariana never turned her gaze from him.

  Spam pulling the trigger on an empty gun now, Draven's eyes were wide with hesitation and fear. Tossing the gun aside to raise his arms up and shield his face from her as he began to whimper and stutter trying to beg for his life any way he could. She couldn't kill him, he had the advantage still! They both knew it!

  "Hey now... Let's not get too hasty remember? I still have my guys in the city who know of you! If you do anything to me they'll find you and they'll kill you or lead the Hunters to yo-"

  Draven interrupted by the woman's foot slamming into the side of his face with supernatural force that betrayed her lithe athletic figure; knocking him into the truck door and denting it. His jaw breaking like a twig and head swirling in extreme agony as sword promptly graced his neck with its presence. The Yelkath pinning him to the door with her ninjato held reversed and caressing his trachea with the inner edge of the blade as red eyes staring calmly into his with slit pupils.

  Her eyes looked different this time... The limbal rings around both Melissaes had thickened to where the coloration of her eyes was now a black ring surrounding a sea of red with a slit pupil residing in the middle. From the thickened limbal rings of her eyes crept flame styled black markings that crept towards the slit pupil at the center as if surrounded by a ring of black fire now. Her pupils quivering across a a canvas of red and black now, locking on to Draven as her Veralen activated in full and emitted a sinister soft glow accentuated by pale features and black hair.

  Blood running from Draven's lips, the moon revealing itself moments later as light graced those beautiful features Draven enjoyed looking at so much. Freezing up when the woman leaned forward to whisper ever so quietly in his ear what would soon be the last words he'd ever hear.

  "I'll hunt them down and kill them too; now pay close attention and die quietly."

  Liariana pulled her head back and looked him directly in his eyes; what looked to be black colored blood leaked out of her right eye as its demon gaze quivered intensely and the whites of Draven's eyes suddenly turned black. The veins underneath his flesh swelled blackened and writhed be
neath his skin as the eye contact remained and he went silent save for barely heard gutteral grunts and cries. His pupils feeling as if they were burning and tearing into his green Melissaes; now malformed and leaking green coloration across the black sclerals while no screams ever left his throat. His body collapsed to the side lifeless moments later as Liariana stood up and stared at him emotionless. Sword raised to slide back into the housing across her lower back, she'd push his corpse away from the door and move around to the drivers side to get into it. Her eyes slowly returning to normal and the glow fading once all were said and done.

  "I only use these eyes for people who deserve a special place in hell. Consider yourself cursed with that group." She scoffed disgusted at him with low-spoken words.

  Her right eye closed, hand reaching up to hold it in discomfort and staining fingers with black blood. A small scowl across lips again and her eyes turning solemn in gaze as she opened the door and took the wheel starting the ignition to drive herself back to Luminous City. Pressing on the gas pedal the woman revved the engine and grinded tires against dirt before she took off to the city with nothing else to say.

  A few moments after she'd taken off... Jonath emerged from the tree line. His pale eyes peering past bangs of spiky silver white that framed his face as he watched the jeep speed off into the valley towards the city leaving behind two corpses. His eyes narrowed in quiet thinking and his roughed up appearance looking tired and fatigued all the same as he exhaled quietly to himself. Looking down at the bodies before him one last time before looking back out at the jeep getting farther and farther away.