Pandora's Box: Land of Strife: Pandora's Box Series, Book 1

by S. Y. Lee

  “This is it then,” Leo said. He knew that this was most likely their last stand in this world and he wanted to make it count. He remembered what Delmar had taught him in the mountain that only welcomed people who sought refuge. His stance told the oncoming soldiers that he was going to stand his ground and wait for them to attack, but just as the first two men leading the charge came close enough, Leo lowered his sword and sprung forward between them.

  The sudden action took them by surprise and Leo bent his knees and spun around with his blade, cutting at the joints of their knees where their armors were the weakest. He could feel the sword making incisions in their tendons before scrapping against bone as he continued to the next pair of men, executing the same move to perfection. After that, he pivoted and jabbed his sword from below, driving it up into the soft spot under the armpit of one of the soldiers. For a brief moment, Leo struggled to pull his sword out as the man refused to release it, and he saw an enemy blade swinging down on his head.

  Leo turned away, closed his eyes, and braced himself, but instead of feeling the sharp edge of the sword on his back, he heard a loud boom above his head. When he opened his eyes, the man who had been about to strike him down had flown ten feet away and there was a large scorch mark on the chest of his armor. Other men had been knocked back by the impact as well, and another blue, blistering ball of flame quickly followed.

  Leo finally managed to pry his sword out of the soldier he had stuck it in and kicked him to the wall. He dashed forward, slashing his thin, sharp blade at the soldiers. The tide had changed. He had the initiative now and he wasn’t going to cede it again. In a matter of seconds, he inflicted non-lethal, but combat-ending wounds to each of the men, all of whom were either too hurt to get up or unconscious.

  “Thanks!” Leo said to Eva as he recovered his breath. She and Jessica had just joined him at his side in the center of the throne room, where the soldiers sprawled on the floor around them seemed to groan in harmony. She grinned in response. Eva had learned more than a few parlor tricks from Elin, and maybe even inherited the wizard’s dramatic flair.

  He was about to ask if she had ever conjured a fireball before, when he saw the color drain from her face. She was looking at the three people standing in front of them. The pudgy man had scrambled back to the side of the throne where he was panting heavily. But what had shocked Eva, as Leo followed her gaze, was the woman on the right of the Blood King.

  It was the first time they were getting a good look at the three people on the dais, and while Jessica was fixated on the young man who sat upon the throne with his hand on a skull affixed to the left arm of the seat, Eva and Leo were more fascinated to see the red-headed woman by his side. She was dressed differently, in a lavish embroidered dress paired with gold bangles and rings on both her arms, but they would have recognized that wild head of hair and her sun-kissed skin even if she were wearing a mask. It was the woman from the mall who had given Eva the wooden box.

  Chapter 97

  It felt like water had been accumulating for days and the dam had just burst. They were being overwhelmed by a torrent of attackers who swept through the walls and guards that attempted to hold the line. There were just too many of them, as those who had been corrupted by the evil influence of Gormore charged fearlessly forward, while those in command of their senses held back and watched Thelmont’s defenses crumble.

  The main gates to the city had collapsed, freed of the iron hinges that held them to the wall, squashing forces from both sides in the process. The enemies had systematically degraded the wall from that point as they created more gaps with their explosives.

  Everyone was retreating towards the epicenter of the city where the castle stood. There was nowhere else to go. The city was surrounded. More civilians attempted to stand and fight alongside the guards to allow their loved ones time to escape, but inexperience was a fatal factor against attackers who only knew bloodlust.

  Caitlin had climbed onto the roof of a barn as she shot her arrows with pinpoint accuracy at random attackers in the head, picking them off one by one, though she didn’t feel she was making any difference. It was like a casting a rock into the ocean, and none of the attackers paid any heed to her or attempted to climb up to get her. She was a negligible threat to them and she would soon run out of arrows. The quiver over her shoulder felt light and there was a part of her that didn’t want to know how many shots she had left.

  Not so far away, she could see a circle of enemies forming around three individuals who still stood their ground near where the gates had been. It was Karine, Elin, and Cohl. It was quite a sight to behold as the three of them fought back to back and held off their attackers to great effect. Flames flew from Elin in all directions as they rotated like a wheel, while the blades of Karine and Cohl cut through those who were left standing.

  The stranded Australian was contemplating whether she should attempt to make her way over to the trio, when she heard the galloping of horses. The rest of the enemy forces were now joining the invasion and she saw familiar faces on horseback. Clera was leading a formation of Dark Flame riders that trampled their way through allies and enemies alike. Caitlin made eye contact with the commander, and her long, raven hair seemed to enter a state of weightlessness as Clera began charging towards the barn. Her sword was raised horizontally, almost parallel to the ground, and she shrieked in rage. Caitlin didn’t need to hear what she was saying to understand her. It was unlikely that she had forgotten about the arrow Caitlin put in her foot.

  Caitlin reached back into her quiver and pulled out one of her last arrows. There were three left. Clera was coming at her at full speed, half-standing on the stirrups as she held her sword out. Caitlin notched the arrow and drew it back, aiming it at Clera’s head. The scar on her face was red and throbbing and her teeth were clenched together in a menacing grimace. Caitlin assumed Clera would at least try to steer out of her line of sight, but she didn’t. Instead, Clera stood up higher as she fast approached, willing to risk Caitlin’s arrow as she came charging at maximum velocity with her sword like a jouster.

  Caitlin waited. She could have made the shot when Clera had been further away, but she hesitated. Unlike the other hostiles, she knew this person charging towards her and while Caitlin loathed the commander, Clera hadn’t treated her badly during their brief time together.

  As she stood on the edge of the low barn roof, Caitlin waited until the last possible moment, when Clera’s sword was inches away from her face, and released the arrow. She wouldn’t have missed from far, and she certainly didn’t miss then. The arrow struck cleanly in the middle of Clera’s eyes and came out through the back of her head as her body flew backwards. Time almost seemed to slow as Clera’s body floated through the air like a ragdoll. Her grip of the sword loosened and Caitlin reached forward to catch it before it dropped. The horse Clera had been riding screeched to a halt as it lost its rider who was going to steer it directly into the wall of the barn.

  Caitlin exhaled and stared down at Clera, whose eyes were still wide open and glaring up angrily at the sky. She could hear the other members of the Dark Flame yelling at her after witnessing the slaying of their leader.

  “I need to go home,” Caitlin muttered to herself as she looked at the carnage everywhere around her. She jumped onto the horse right below her and rode away towards the castle, slashing at any enemies that blocked her way with Clera’s sword.

  Chapter 98

  “Impressive. I didn’t think you would make it this far, but you have yet to complete the trial,” the woman said.

  “You! Why did you give us the box? Who are you?” Eva practically shouted at the red-haired woman.

  “Who I am doesn’t matter. What matters is, what are you going to do now?” The woman leaned against the throne and nodded at the man next to her.

  All this time, they had been ignoring the person sitting on the throne. He was young, somewhere between the ages of Eva and Leo, and Jessica. His hair was messy and l
ong, slick with either sweat or water, and he was dressed in black. His skin was pale, likely from the lack of exposure to the sun, and while he wasn’t overweight, he had a bulky physique. His arms bulged in the sleeves of his shirt, and he looked one of those guys who spent too much time in the gym lifting weights. There was a giant axe resting at his feet that they hadn’t noticed before. The blade was painted black and it blended into the pedestal.

  There was a sneer on his face, like the ends of his lips were permanently stuck in a slight incline and just looking at him sent chills down Eva’s spine. His left hand rested on the arm of the throne as he gripped a hollow skull that was facing outwards. It appeared to be attached to the throne and Eva noticed that there was fresh blood on it, slowly leaking into the eye sockets of the skull.

  “You’re Kyle Lipinski?” she asked.

  He nodded and stood. As he did, they could see drops of blood trickling down the side of his arm. He wasn’t injured or maimed. By now, Eva understood that whatever wound he had was self-inflicted, so that he could satiate the skull and somehow wield the tainted influence of Gormore, the land that Elin explained was bathed in the blood of thousands from centuries ago. It was blood feeding blood.

  “Well, it was Kyle Mainot when I woke up in this world, but I decided to use my other name. My original name from the world you all came from, where I was an outcast. Here, I’m the Blood King and those who don’t pledge their allegiance to me will die or lose their senses eventually. Here, I’ll rule the world.” Kyle smirked as he finished his own introduction. He must have practiced the short speech over and over again in his mind. He stood tall and proud, as if he had been wronged by the three strangers before him.

  “Hold on,” Jessica stepped forward. “Who are those two beside you? They seem to know what’s going on. She gave Eva and Leo the box? Why them?”

  The red-haired woman exchanged a look with the old man, before stepping down the raised platform of the throne until she was in front of Jessica. She didn’t speak immediately and she gazed into Jessica’s eyes as if she was trying to examine her soul or figure out what made her tick.

  “Curious,” she said. “You’re not supposed to be here, descendant of Pandora. Your name has already failed humanity once.”

  “Well, I am here. Now, will you please tell us what we’re supposed to be here for? What about the trials of humanity?” Jessica leaned forward until their noses almost touched. She wasn’t one to be intimidated so easily.

  The woman held her stare for a while until she blinked and smiled. She took a step back, then walked around the group and towards the hallway. “I’ll give you a hint,” she said, with her back to them as she walked away. “Strife. End it, and you will complete this trial.”

  “And then what? What does this world have to do with Greek mythology? This makes no sense!” Leo exclaimed. The woman stopped and looked over her shoulder, not at all three of them, but directly at Leo. Her green eyes looked like shining emeralds as the light from a nearby fire reflected off them, and she smiled mysteriously, just as she did when he had stepped into her shop at the mall.

  “It’s a world taken from your own minds. You humans have such wonderful imaginations. Back then, all they could dream of was the same reality they lived in.” She chuckled and continued walking until she reached the bend in the hallway. “I’ll see you all again soon.”

  And then she was gone.

  When Leo, Eva, and Jessica turned back to the throne, the old man had vanished too. There were no other exits in the room and while there was a hole in the ceiling above them, he couldn’t have made it up there. Kyle didn’t seem to notice or care, as he picked up the axe at his feet.

  Leo raised his sword in defense but backed away from the throne, pushing Eva and Jessica behind him. “Wait, let’s think this through. We all just want to go home,” he beseeched Kyle.

  “I don’t. I don’t want to go back to Tennessee where I’m a deliveryman with no friends or family,” Kyle said as he took long, purposeful strides towards them.

  “Just put down the axe and we can talk!” Eva begged him, she held out a hand, ready to stop him with her magic if he got any closer.

  “That’s right. She said we just have to end the strife and the trial is over. So, if you put the axe down and call off the attack on Thelmont, that should be it. Right?” Jessica chimed in with her thoughts, but Kyle was having none of it. He didn’t share their desire to go home.

  He lifted the axe over his head and behind him, then lunged at Leo. The downward motion of the axe came too fast for Leo to duck out of the way, and even if he did, he was sure either Jessica or Eva would have been hurt. That left him no choice but to hold up his sword to block the blow. He was successfully, but only barely, as the weight of the axe came crashing down on the sword and he had to support the end of the blade with his hand while hanging onto the handle.

  The sharp edge of the axe came within inches of his face before bouncing back up and Leo stumbled a few steps back. His knees ached and he struggled to stay on his feet. The sword in his hand had been flexible enough to absorb the force of Kyle’s attack, but Leo could see a visible crack across its side where the axe had struck.

  Eva and Jessica had jumped to either side of him to avoid him crashing into them. Eva nearly tripped over the foot of one of the soldiers on the ground, and she was in the midst of recovering her footing while getting ready to unleash her magic at Kyle. However, he had seen a preview of what she could do and he switched his attention to her when he saw her hand raised at him, swinging his axe from the side this time.

  She had no time to react. She was still trying to remember what she had done to rescue Jessica from her attackers in the secluded alley in Thelmont, while Kyle’s axe was about to split her in half.

  Luckily, Leo sprang to her side at the last second and he blocked the potentially fatal blow with Sparrow and pushed her away. He cringed when the two weapons clashed, and he didn’t need to see the small metal shard flying off his sword to know that it was chipped and on the verge of breaking. He felt lightheaded and nearly lost grip of his sword, as the effects of their long journey in the dark tunnel started to catch up with him. This would have been a tough fight for him even at full strength.

  Kyle swung his axe again at Leo, who managed to jump out of the way this time and he retreated towards the throne, hoping to draw Kyle away from Eva and Jessica. He had a moment of clarity as he stepped back and held his sword out, pointing it at Kyle. There was little chance of besting the brutish man in front of him, but he could buy precious time for Eva, no matter how fleeting.

  “Please,” he begged Kyle, though he looked past the man hellbent on killing him, at Eva. No words were needed when their eyes met and she understood Leo’s intentions. The expression on her face was pained yet determined, and she nodded at Leo with pursed lips.

  As Kyle raised his heavy axe again, Leo mustered all the strength he could as he willed his body past its limit and pounced with a jab of his sword, aiming for Kyle’s chest with no regard for his own safety. This was his last stand.

  Chapter 99

  There was no time to care for the wounded, but Sarah resisted leaving anyone behind even as the attackers were getting closer. It was Alister who made the call for her. Against her wishes, and despite her kicking and screaming, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder as he started making his way through the chaos and towards the castle.

  “Let me go! We need to help those people!” Sarah pounded her fists on the back of the man whose only concern was her safety. She looked behind them and saw defenseless civilians being overrun by the enemy and slaughtered like cattle. “Please!” she cried. She knew that there was nothing she, or even Alister, could do for them. She could see past the walls that were in shambles, as the enemy forces streamed into the city. Blood would soon fill the streets of Thelmont like a coursing river.

  The surprisingly strong Alister jumped over a barricade some guards had set up, where they wer
e ready to make their final stand, and he put Sarah down. Caitlin was there too, standing beside a horse, though there was no way she could ride it any further without trampling on someone. From where they stood, they could see that thousands of people were rushing into the castle where they assumed it was safer. They were too far away. The castle would be at capacity before they got anywhere near it.

  The girls hugged as Sarah sobbed into Caitlin’s shoulder. The obscenely tall Alister stood by them as he searched with keen eyes for a viable escape route. They were started to get boxed in from every side and while the guards appeared to have slowed the enemy’s advance, they wouldn’t see the next sunrise if nothing changed to their advantage.

  “Have you seen my brother?” Sarah asked the Australian. Caitlin shook her head and looked around, but David was nowhere to be seen.

  *

  He could see Alister. Well, most people could see Alister, but David was the only person looking for him. He knew that his sister wouldn’t be far away from the tall, lanky man who would have still stood out in the crowd in his colorful attire if he was shorter. He tried calling out to Alister, but his voice was drowned out by the dozens of shouts around him, as other people in similar situations shouted for their friends and families.

  He tried to push his way through the crowd, but he wasn’t getting anywhere and he found himself mainly occupied with pushing people away to prevent himself from being crushed. This is what fish caught in a net must feel like, he thought, as someone stepped on his foot while another person elbowed him roughly in the back. He couldn’t even turn around to see who it had been so he could give them a piece of his mind.

  *