[Dominion's War] Through Devil's Eyes

~Akval, Present Day~

As Albrave and Taiga made their way through the bustling streets of Akval, the blind beggar keeping close to the Red Horseman of War so as to appear inconspicuous, the beggar smirks. Every so often, he would tap his staff against the ground, letting him see the bustling city's landscape. He knew this section well. A few feet down was an alleyway that brought back memories, both fond and painful. After all, it was there that his life in Akval first began...


~Lucent Bastille's Outskirts, 18 years ago~

The rolling, sun-kissed planes on the outskirts of the Lucent Bastille's territory were calm and peaceful on this beautiful summer day. The wind flowed freely over the tall grass and wild flowers, revealing a massive village of tents with a large, makeshift fence stable housing thousands of Planes Bison. This massive collection of Devils and Mortals was the Durga Horde, one of the Five Great Hordes, who stood as the five most powerful Devil Hordes in all of Karma. As the Horde Members mill about their camp, preparing for the day's activities, a young boy can be heard laughing as he is chased by a skittering, clicking sound. The laughing boy in question burst over a hill, laughing as he runs down it and is chased by a large beetle-like insect creature. The creature jumps up and lands on his back playfully, the boy tumbling down the hill and the two sprawling out as the soft seed pods of the wildflowers around them float away in the wind.

"Taiga!" a deep, strong voice calls out. When the boy looks up, he is met by the arms of a strong, muscular Human man, his blonde hair and blue eyes as well as his deep accent betraying his northern origins. Taiga laughs as the man picks him up, the bug-creature crawling onto his shoulder and holding on as the man whirls around playfully with young Taiga in his arms. "There you are, boy! Come on, we need to get back to the camp. Your mother has an important announcement to make to the entire Horde!" the man says as he puts Taiga onto his shoulders.

"Hehe! Oh boy! Are we going to raid another settlement, father?!" the boy asks cheerfully. It was common for Hordes to make their livings by pillaging settlements, typically those foolish enough to flaunt loyalty to the Gods. The man smiles up at Taiga, nodding.

"Aye, son. Its going to be a big one, too! An entire Bastille city, ripe for the picking! Lets go hear your mother's plan!"

As the two make their way into the sea of tents, they hurry towards the center of the Horde village. There, a massive crowd of Devils, Mortals, and Half-Devils, all belonging to the Horde was gathered. In the center of this gathering, at the focal point of the attention, was a short but strong-looking Devil woman with long, dark, shaggy hair, ashen skin, and sharp-pointed ears like daggers. She had a mischievous tooth growing from the top right side of her mouth, giving her a playful air. She wore a grey cloth poncho-like cloak over a bandaged-up chest and sack cloth pants. In her hand was a staff that seemed like it was made from pure rubies and blood red iron, the rod shining in the sunlight as the Devil woman rested it on her shoulder. She was Durga, one of the Five Great Chieftains and leader of the Durga Horde. As she smiles out to the crowd, she notices Taiga and her husband, smiling to them and nodding before she began.

"Alright, listen up! We have a golden opportunity on our hands here! An entire city controlled by the Lucent Bastille now sits, undefended! The Bastille military pulled out, and left all that plunder for the taking! This will be a cut and dry raid, people, but we expect a massive haul. No civilians left either, meaning there should be plenty of food, wealth, and goods all still there! We leave before nightfall, and will begin the raid as soon as the sun sets! LETS MOVE! WE'RE PACKING UP THE CAMP AND HEADING TO THAT CITY!"

The Horde all cheer, their support for their Chieftain unwavering. As the Horde springs into action, moving to disassemble the camp for departure, Durga walks through the crowd towards her family. "Halfdan! Taiga!" she calls out to them with a wave.

Her husband, Halfdan, places their son onto the ground and lets him run ahead. As Taiga approaches his mother, he leaps into her arms, laughing as she picks him up. "Mother! Mother! Are you really going to sack an entire city?!"

Durga laughs, tussling Taiga's hair after slipping her staff onto her back. "Aye, son!~ I'll take everything that isn't glued down! Mark my words, you'll have plenty of shiny new toys when this raid is done!"

Taiga smiles up at his mother in awe. She was so strong, so confident, so beautiful. She was his role model, his idol, and the person he held closest to his heart. "Can I come with you this time, Mother? Please?! I wanna be a Raider, just like you!"

Durga chuckles, setting Taiga down. "When you're older, son. You just had you sixth birthday two moons ago. When you are old enough, I will take you with me and show you the ropes, myself. Yours will be the finest blade in the Horde, Taiga. I promise.~"

Taiga smiles, nodding as he hugs his mother's leg. "I love you, mother!"

Durga pets his head, smiling down at him with kind eyes. "And I, you, dear heart." She then looks to her husband. "Halfdan, take Taiga and begin packing our tent. We're burning daylight!~"


~The City of Zolda, nightfall that evening~

As night sets onto the large walled city of Zolda, the numerous small torches of the Durga Horde's raiders suddenly ignite in the dark. They dance over the night soaked planes as the Horde rides their Bison towards the city, making directly for the gates, However, to their surprise, they find the gates wide open. Durga, who rode a the head of the horde, narrows her gaze at the gates. "What is this?..."

The Horde enters the city, slowing down as they all look around cautiously. Everything was...empty? Then, one of the men calls out. "DURGA! WE FOUND BODIES!"

She wastes no time, the Devil Chieftain riding over to the Raiders who called out. One, a Half-Devil, seems slightly shaken. "There doesn't seem to be signs of invasion or an enemy army...What happened here, Durga?" the raider asks.

Durga then dismounts, walking over to examine the pile of corpses that the Raiders found in one of the side alleyways. The dead were all Mortals with red eyes. Wait....Red eyes?! "Half-Devils?!" She immediately goes on edge, looking around. "See if there are any other corpses!"

As the horde looks in the houses and alleyways, they find many, many more dead. All of which are either Half-Devils or Devils. With a horrified look in her eyes, Durga steps back. "Its a trap....ITS A TRAP!"

Too late. Suddenly, the gates shut as the city fills with a loud chorus of hissing and skittering. In moments, the horde is surrounded by hundreds of thousands of dark, shadowy shape that covered the streets and the roofs of houses. As Durga looked around her, she could only mutter out one word. "....Fae..."

The hissing suddenly stops as the shadows part, the shape of a large, muscular humanoid with deep, red skin steps forward. The humanoid wore a simple, white cloth toga-like outfit and a straw, dish-shaped hat over his head, the rim hiding his eyes and nose. However, his hips, shoulders, forearms, legs, pectorals, neck, and cheeks shined from the golden scales that covered them and blended seamlessly with his red skin. Immortal Vigor flowed off the man, betraying his identity as a God. "Devils of the Durga Horde..." the God speaks, "You have all been selected. Your desires...I will have them. Let us grant your wishes, and you shall know true prosperity. Reject this offer...and you will be left to the fangs and claws of those who's desires were unworthy."

Durga could barely comprehend what the God was saying. "Desires? You want our desires? Our desire is to get out of here! MOVE, LIZARD! I'VE NO TIME FOR GAMES!"

The God sighs, shaking his head. "Nonsense and bravado...I told Her Ladyship that you Devils are a difficult lot. Very well..." He looks around to the Fae that seem to be coiling back in anticipation for his orders. "Kill them all. Anything with red or yellow eyes."


Meanwhile, at the Horde camp outside the city, Taiga was laying restlessly in his sleeping bag. Raids normally didn't last so long...by now, at least a few of the Raiders would have returned with some of the plunder. What was taking his mother and father so long? As Taiga rose from his sleeping bag, he began to feel something welling in his gut. A sense of unease that he had never felt before. Emerging from his tent, he looks to the city in the distance, seeing the smoke billow up from behind the walls. However...there was no yelling. No sounds of pillaging, nor combat. It was all silent. Something was very, very wrong.

Taiga slowly made his way through the night-covered planes outside the city, stumbling and walking as he kept his sight on the walls ahead. Soon, he found himself in front of the gates, noticing that they had been shut. Why would his mother and the others close the gates like this? How would the Horde leave? Slowly, a thought dawns on him...What if this was some kind of trap?! Scrambling, he looks around the walls, finally seeing a left-over Siege Ladder still resting on the outside. He scrambles to the raggedy ladder, crawling up as quickly as his small body would allow him. He had to get inside! He had to see! Finally, he crawls his way over the walls, falling over the barricades that kept the wall's top safe and onto a pile of strange, charred material. His skin was covered in soot and dirt, and his eyes stung from the cinders and smoke. Finally, he rubs his eyes clean, looking around at where he landed. To his horror, he saw a charred, burned arm sticking up from underneath him. He cries out, scrambling back as he hides behind a shield that lay strewn on the floor.

A raspy, clicking noise suddenly echoes out from the darkness around him, causing him to look around frantically. Finally, he sees the city itself, burning and filled with shifting, skittering masses of darkness. He swallows, terror welling up within his stomach as he slowly makes his way to the stares, keeping the shield up protectively. As he wandered through the city streets, he could hear more clicking and hissing, as well as growling and the occasional scream of pain. So that's why he couldn't hear combat...something in the city's darkness itself was attacking the horde! Finally, he comes to a large back alley that was illuminated by red, swirling flames. It was those flames that gave him a small spark of hope. His mother's Devil's Arm, the staff Ensemble of Flames, produced such fires! He runs forward, deeper into the alley, discarding the shield to his side as he sees two shadows, one male, large and powerful, and one female, small and strong. He recognized the female's shape. It was his mother! A smile forms on his face! She was alright!

It was then that his world came crashing down. As he rounded the bend, he felt the sudden instinct to duck and hide. Unable to ignore it, he ducks behind a rotting barrel in the alley and peers around at the source of the shadows. His heart drops as he sees the male figure's source, the red God in the straw hat, holding his mother by the face. Her body was broken and beaten, covered in bruises that oozed blood. Her Devil's Arm rested weakly in her hand as she tries to stay awake, desperately twitching in the God's grasp.

The God sighs, tightening his grip. "Will you yield?..."

Durga gasps, but lets out a growl. "You Gods....are the fucking worst. You call us Devils the evil ones...but...look at all this...." She chuckles. "You fucking scum."

The Red God does not seem moved at all as he lowers his gaze. "Very well..." Suddenly, he lets go and brings his fists back. The golden energy that was his Immortal Vigor suddenly surges forth as he punches both hands forward. The aura seems to shift, becoming thousands of red fists that slam into Durga's entire form like a hailstorm of blows. "FIGHTING AFFILIATION: RAIN OF MIGHT!"

In an instant, Durga is flung into the back wall, leaving a crater where her body lands. Taiga could only gasp in horror, tears unable to stream forth from the sheer shock of what he just witnessed. The Red God lowers his fists slowly, his muscles and joints cracking as he sighs again. He then looks to the Fae on the rooftops around him. "Go. My orders still stand. Anything remaining from this Horde is to die. If it has yellow or red eyes, kill it. I am returning to Her Ladyship...Once you are all finished here, return to your Hive and await further instructions..." The Red God then brings his hands together, speaking in the ancient dialect of the Gods as his Immortal Vigor swirls into a large seal in front of his body. The Sutra flashes, the God becoming a flash of light that streaks up into the sky and flies off towards the south. With that, the Fae all screech out in unison and scatter, looking to continue their work.

Taiga waits until he no longer hears skittering, his body frozen to the barrel. Finally, he gains the courage to sprint forward into the alley. He finds his mother's broken form, slumped up against the wall in its crater. As he staggers towards her, he meekly squeaks out. "M-Mother?..."

Durga suddenly coughs, blood flowing down her chin as she looks up weakly. "T-Tai...ga?" He staggers forward, putting his hands on his mother's chest as he begins sobbing. She weakly places a hand on his head. "Why...are you here?...You...need to...run...you're...the last...of our Horde..."

Taiga cries out, gripping her shirt as he sobs into her chest. "NO! I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE YOU! WHERE'S FATHER?! WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!"

Durga can only let out a small, sputter cough mixed with a laugh. "Taiga...your father...he's dead...you are the only one left. But...if they find you...if those things see your eyes...they'll kill you..." She tightens the grip on her staff, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Taiga...sweetie...look at me..." Taiga looks up, the tears streaming down his face as he looks into his mother's own, bloodied, smiling face. "I want you to know...I love you very much...and this is the hardest thing I have ever had to do...but...this is so you can escape...so you can survive. Don't worry...you'll become strong...you'll also have a new friend, who will guide you....She...will be your eyes..."

Taiga's eyes widen in fear and confusion. "M-Mother? What do you-" He is cut off when Durga suddenly brings her staff up, placing it across his eyes and the bridge of his nose. Suddenly, the staff ignites with red fire, the staff sizzling and scorching the young boy's flesh. Taiga screams out in pain and confusion, his eyes sealing shut painfully as his flesh melts together over them. He scrambles back, covering his face as he cries out incoherently.

Durga then looks to her staff, speaking to the Devil's Arm directly. "Ensemble of Flames...hear my last wish. I grant my Soul Power...and the right to wield you...to Taiga...Keep him safe...be his eyes...and...let...him...live..." She lets go of the staff, the weapon dropping from her grip as the life finally leaves her body. The staff suddenly explodes with red, swirling, flame-like energy that surges forward and enters Taiga's body.

Taiga screams as his arms and legs are forced down by the energy, causing his consciousness to finally fade from the pain and stress.

A few hours later, Taiga can hear a faint whisper in the back of his mind.

Taiga....

The voice called to him gently, almost like his mother's would when she would wake him in the mornings.

Taiga...Come here...

He could feel something pulling at his body, making his arm move against his control. It reaches out and grasps at something firm and cold, like a metal mixed with stone. The voice suddenly becomes louder, yet retains its gentle tone.

Good...now stand up. I will help you...

He could feel a burning feeling surging into his legs, forcing him to his feet as he leans on the staff. He feels himself begin to hobble blindly. No matter how hard he tried, he could not open his eyes or see anything. His face burned and ached so badly, but tears could not flow. All he could do was occasionally let out a weak whine. As he hobbled, the voice spoke to him, keeping him awake. The staff seems to shift in his grasp, changing from its ruby appearance to a glamour, making it appear as nothing more than a wooden staff.

I am using my power to control your body for now, since you are still weak. However, you will eventually have to keep walking on your own. But, I can see...I will guide you to where you need to go. I will keep you safe. You are not alone, Taiga...I am with you...I will always be with you...

Taiga weakly gasps, feeling the ground shift from the hard stone of the city streets to the gravel and rock of the roads outside. "W-Who?..."

The voice answers calmly.

I am called Ensemble of Flames....and I am your Devil's Arm now...I belonged to your mother, and she asked me to be your eyes. I will help you be strong, Taiga. However...you are still young. You need guidance...a place to stay. We are going West...to the great Desert Mountain nation of Telemon. There, we will find someone who will help...He is someone close to your parents....

Without a word, Taiga lets Ensemble continue to guide him, setting out towards the Western sky.


~Akval, 4 months later.~

As traders and merchants pour in and out of the City of Wheels, the young blind boy stumbles between the crowds. Using what was once his shirt as a head cover to wrap his wounded eyes, Taiga walks straight through the gates, the guards seeming to not even notice his existence. Seems nobody in the world cared for the wanderings of some blind, raggedy street urchin. As he wanders into the streets, he makes his way into an alley in the Bronze District, the voice of the staff in his hands calling out to him and guiding his steps.

As he walks into the alley, he stops in front of a mass of rags that seemed to rise and fall, as if it was breathing.

Here he is...Now, ask him the following questions. Don't worry...I will guide you through this...

Taiga speaks weakly. "Are you...Floki?"

The rags suddenly shift as they rise, revealing them to be numerous cloth ponchos covering a large, powerful-looking beggar man with blond, ragged hair and blue, shining eyes. "And who is asking, boy? I don't remember knowing any blind street urchins."

Taiga seems to shiver in fear slightly, finally speaking. "M-My name is Taiga...son of Durga and Halfdan...I was told to find you..."

The man called Floki's eyes widen as he suddenly takes Taiga's shoulders and kneels down to talk to the boy directly. "HALFDAN IS YOUR FATHER?! Where is he boy!? And Durga?! Where are they!?"

Taiga chokes back another wave of sobbing, answering slowly. "They're...dead..."

Floki slowly releases him, stepping back as he seems at a loss for words. "I see....And that staff...your mother gave it to you, I take it?"

Taiga nods.

Floki then sighs, rising up as he pulls Taiga into a hug. "You poor, poor boy...you must have been through much. But...you are safe now. I will look after you, as your kin. I am Floki, son of Thrine, and brother of Halfdan. Though I am only a beggar, I will teach you what I know. Even a beggar can live with pride, here in Akval. Plus, I have a few connections that can make life much easier. Besides that, I can also teach you something else...something passed down from my father to me. For now, we'll find you some food and water. Tomorrow...we start your training. I will make you a fine beggar...and a better Aura Forger."


~Akval, Present Day~

As Taiga and Albrave continue towards the Iron Ward's gates, the blind beggar feels his face throb slightly as he remembered his past.

Its been a long time since you last thought of the past...but, you must keep listening for the future, Taiga. Use the power I provide you, and the skills given to you by your uncle. Become useful to this "Albrave". I can see the hue of his soul...he is the kind of man who has the potential to change the world. If he has plans for Akval, and it can help you survive, then follow him as you see fit. Remember, Taiga...your life is your own.

Taiga smirks. Yes...It was all his own. And since then, his life has had two great desires. To live....and to find the Red God with the soft yet strong voice. The one who's fist had taken everything from him. He remembered the God's voice, and would never forget it as long as he lived. Desire...what was it that God wanted with Desire? He did not care. All he knew was the path before his feet. And with his staff and Aura, he would not wander this path blind. No, he would walk it and see more than any other. That was his way, now.