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yellowroseanddreamstorm · 4 years ago

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Chapter 3: Princess Elara

The last thing Elara recalled was the sound of an explosion as the engine of her ship was hit. Her crew members all shouted in alarm as they found themselves on a crash course for the planet they were heading to. It was supposed to be smooth sailing to deliver Elara to Admiral Wong but that was all dashed with the appearance of two Ecliptic Claw battleships.

What was happening now, was very unclear to the half conscious princess.

Her bright amber eyes opened weakly as she tried to piece together her current situation. Smoke met her nostrils, causing her face to contort. There were fires around her, her ship completely in ruin. She could see members of her crew lying limp over their control panels, the captain in particular lying limp at his command station, some blood pooling around his head.

Oh no.

Elara tried to move but her body refused to, her muscles strained from the trauma of the crash. By some stroke of luck nothing had fallen on her nor had she been thrown from her chair.

Probably thanks to the restraints but still…

Elara went cold as she glanced at her crew members once more. As far as she could tell, none of them were alive. She was the sole survivor of the crash.

“Search the ship for the princess!” She heard a voice from outside shout. “Kedaaron wants her whether she’s alive or not!”

Elara’s heart began to pound, her hands shaking. She tried to get herself to move again but her body still refused to. Everything was sore and frozen in place.

“Come on… move…” She muttered, wincing at her muscles' complaints. “I… I gotta…”

Elara’s body froze even more as she heard the sound of metal being bent and glass breaking.

No no no no no!

Elara tried even harder to move from where she was but to no avail. Her body was too weak and her head was starting to throb with the smoke intoxicating her mind. Things were starting to go black. She tried to fight against it but the more she fought, the more tired she became.

Just as things went black, she heard the sound of a lion roar, soon followed by silence as she slumped over in her chair.

oooooo

It was only a matter of moments before Xross found himself locked in battle with three Ecliptic Claw soldiers. They were grunts, nothing he couldn’t handle on his own.

They came charging at him, electrified claws ready to strike. Once they were close, Xross acted quickly, giving a quick swipe of his claws, throwing the three grunts off balance.

“Let’s make this quick.” Xross narrowed his eyes.

He went for the first grunt, head butting them hard with his helmet, causing them to fall over instantly, groaning in pain before Xross delivered another blow with his foot to knock them out.

The second grunt, he threw into a broken off part of the ship, their back of the head meeting it. They were out instantly.

The last one was a bit tougher. They locked claws with Xross, the two snarling as they struggled.

“So, you’re the one Kedaaron keeps growling about.” The grunt sneered. “Leonideas, the self proclaimed “Warrior of Earth.”

“Growling huh? What an honor. I hear it takes a lot to get Kedaaron to growl about someone.” Xross smirked. “Especially since I’m just one guy and there’s a whole rebellion I would think would be a bigger thorn in his side.”

The grunt narrowed their eyes.

“They’re not the one humiliating commanders like you have.”

Xross’ smirk didn’t falter.

“They brought that on themselves and I know how much it makes you all squirm.”

Xross threw the grunt off balance, slashing them across the chest, earning a yowl from them. They fell to the ground, hissing in pain. Xross held his claws close their throat.

“Though honestly, I think you should all be glad I spare your lives, unlike your dearly missed Commander Kanova.” Xross narrowed his eyes. “When you wake up, tell your commander, whoever they are, I’m coming for them and if you just so happen to grace Kedarron’s presence, tell him Leonideas said hello.”

With a swift punch, the grunt was knocked out cold.

Xross surveyed the area quickly before he relaxed, still keeping his claws drawn.

“Leonideas!”

Xross looked to see Jim running to him, a young woman in his arms.

“What’ve we got?” Xross asked, looking her over, concerned.

She had long curly white hair and dark skin with lighter markings on it. She was dressed in a red and orange dress with golden accents, a shawl to match.

“An Aurorian. A royal if I had to guess from the garb and this ship and what we heard those grunts say before you attacked.” Jim answered, looking down at her. “I surveyed what I could of the place and she was the only live one I found. The rest of the crew on board is dead.”

“Yikes.” Xross frowned. “Well… best we can do for her right now is get her to safety. I’m guessing she was probably on her way here to meet with The Dawn members and they’ll probably be looking for her.”

“Yeah. Our camp is probably the safest bet. If we can figure out where she was supposed to be going then we can just escort her there and call it good. Though… guess that means the mask isn’t coming off till she leaves.”

Xross shrugged.

“It’ll be for a short time, so, no big deal.”

Jim nodded.

“Alright. Shall we?”

“We shall.”

oooooo

Elara wasn’t sure how long she was out. She was afraid to wake up though. There were three possibilities running through her mind to what might be awaiting her when she did open hers.

Possibility 1: She had met her end and would be greeting her ancestors relatively soon. Though she wasn’t so sure since something like this would’ve been instantaneous… Least, she was pretty sure.

Possibility 2: Based on what she heard, she was possibly captured by Ecliptic Claw members and was in one of their prisons or worse… in Lord Kedaaron’s base. She really hoped that wasn’t the case but it seemed the most likely.

Possibility 3: Some how… some way… Someone else had gotten her out of the wreck. Maybe a crew member who had survived or someone who had seen the crash. This, however, was just wishful thinking. It was impossible but the chances of it being what was happening were low.

Her senses were coming back to her slowly. She took what she could without her sight in first.

There was the scent of smoke but unlike the intoxicating smoke of her ship, this was a more faint scent, mixed with other scents that were savory. That of fish and other various foods.

She could hear faint chattering between people though it was quiet whispers so she couldn’t really make out what they were saying… or rather, the voices sounded muffled because of a loud rumbling sound. It was gentle and rhythmic but it was making it hard for her to hear anything else. She could hear the crackle of a fire too so that definitely didn’t help in trying to make out conversations.

In addition to the rumbling sound, something soft was vibrating on her stomach.

Elara finally decided to open her eyes, her curiosity wanting answers. Her vision was blurry for a moment before it cleared. Her eyes first went to whatever was on her stomach. There, she found a small creature that had long black fur that was curled up into a ball, its long wispy tail making small motions. It was the source of the rumbling sound and the sound it was making was because of vibrations in the creature’s throat.

The creature stirred, opening its eyes to reveal they were a bright yellow green. It looked at her, tilting their head before making a sound.

“Mew!”

“Um…” Elara tilted her head in confusion. “Hello…?”

“Ah, she awakes.”

Elara’s head snapped to the side, seeing a young man with blond hair approach her, a gentle look in his eyes. Elara went to move, sitting up but cringed at the soreness still affecting her body.

“Easy now.” the young man knelt to her level. “Your body is still recovering from the crash. I promise my comrades and I are not going to hurt you.”

Elara nodded slowly, taking everything in about the young man.

He was dressed in a dark grey armor that had pink glowing designs on it, most notably a design of a caduceus on his chest.

He’s a medic though doesn’t look like he belongs to The Dawn with the color scheme of his armor.

She looked for an emblem on his shoulders, but none was to be found.

Definitely not a member of The Dawn but not a member of the Ecliptic Claw either…

The young man gave a gentle smile.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Princess Elara Galaxia.” Elara answered, sitting up straight. “And you are?”

Jim gave a bow.

“Jim. Pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. Never met a royal before.”

“And I thank you for saving my life. To whom are you associated with?”

Jim chuckled, looking up.

“Neither The Dawn or the Ecliptic Claw. I am my own man. Though I guess you could say I am associated with Leonideas the Warrior of Earth.”

Elara’s eyes widened at this.

“You’re associated with THAT vigilante?”

Elara had heard stories of the warrior. Especially with how much he had proven to be a very helpful alley, even if he never swore official allegiance with anyone. As far as anyone could tell he was very much against the Ecliptic Claw but it was hard to trust him entirely without knowing what his intentions were in why he did what he did. Some feared he would turn on them once the job was done. Others thought he would just disappear from existence and live a normal life. No one could really give a straight answer. Only things that could be said is one could view him as a hero while another could view him as a potential threat or nuisance.

I know Admiral Wong isn’t too fond of him.

“Sure am.” Jim grinned. “Who do you think patches up the knucklehead when he comes back from a duel?” Jim pointed to himself. “The guy might be tough as nails and a great warrior but he knows squat about first aid.”

“Mew!”

Elara looked down at the black furry creature that had now moved to her lap. They were still vibrating, rubbing against her stomach.

“And what is this…?” Elara asked, pointing at the creature.

“That’s Abyss. He’s my cat.” Jim got an amused look. “Never seen a cat before?”

Elara shook her head, picking up Abyss, looking him over.

“I have never seen an Earth feline before.” Her eyes had a bit of wonder in them. “Only what I have read in books. I didn’t know they could look like this too.”

Abyss mewed before vibrating again, his nose meeting with Elara’s, getting a giggle out of her.

“Why is it vibrating so much?”

Jim laughed.

“He’s purring, which means he’s happy and that he’s comfortable around you.”

“Oh, I see.” Elara smiled, setting Abyss down in her lap again, petting his fur.

Abyss purred lowered, curling up in her lap.

“Adorable…”

“Ah, I see our mystery girl awakes.”

Elara jumped, looking up to see another person. Her eyes widened as she took in their appearance.

They were dressed in a set of black armor with purple designs on it, a cloak draped over it. The entirety of their head and face was concealed in a helmet that was shaped like that of a lion head, its eyes glowing a faint purple color, the only thing being visible was their mouth through the lion’s mouth.

There was no questioning who was standing beside Jim.

“L-Leonideas…”

“That’s me.” He chuckled. “And who might you be?”

Elara remained silent, holding Abyss close.

“She’s Princess Elara Galaxia.” Jim answered for her. “So, looks like I was right when I guessed she was a royal Aurorian when I pulled her out of the ship.”

“I see… And do you know if she was coming in to see The Dawn?”

“Was just about to ask.” Jim looked to Elara. “Were you?”

Elara nodded slowly.

“Yes. I was supposed to meet with Admiral Nari Wong to provide support with supplies on my ship but…” Elara lowered her head. “We were ambushed…”

Leonideas frowned, kneeling to her level, placing a hand gently on her shoulder, startling her a little. She looked up at him. While she couldn’t see his actual eyes, it almost seemed like the lion mask’s eyes showed sympathy.

“I’m so sorry for your losses.”

Elara lowered her head.

“They were good people… I just wish they didn’t have to meet such a horrible fate.”

“War is cruel like that.” Leonideas squeezed her shoulder. “The best we can do to honor those who have fallen is to move forward and keep fighting for their sake so their efforts weren’t in vain.”

Elara nodded, looking up.

“Will you be taking me to Admiral Nari Wong?”

“Sure are.” Jim smiled. “Just need to figure out where she is since she tends to move from different locations pretty quickly.”

“And it’ll be Jim and Laika who’ll take you and not me since Admiral Nari Wong is not the biggest fan of me.”

“So, I’ve heard.” Elara tilted her head. “You know, if you aligned yourself with The Dawn I’m sure she’d be a bit nicer to you-”

“Not gonna happen.”

“What?”

Leonideas stood up fully, crossing his arms.

“No offense to them but I like doing things MY way and not their way.”

Elara gave a flat look.

“So, in other words, you don’t like rules.”

Leonideas shrugged.

“I have rules, I just don’t like THEIR rules.”

“How is that much different?”

“I’m not having this discussion.” Leonideas gave a wave of his hand, walking towards the campfire. “Jim, just get the info we need and we can escort Her Highness to where she needs to go. I need to worry about where I need to duel next.”

Elara stared at Leonideas in silence before huffing, crossing her arms.

“And this guy is supposedly some great warrior? Well, he’s certainly a warrior without manners. Who does what he just did?”

Jim rubbed the back of his neck.

“You’ll have to excuse him. Trust me when I say this, he does have good social skills but he doesn’t really like talking about matters like aligning with The Dawn for personal reasons.” Jim cleared this throat. “Regardless, we promise we will get you to Admiral Wong as soon as we can. I just need a little time to locate her. You worry about resting, okay?”

“I suppose.” Elara had her narrowed eyes zeroed in on Leonideas.

Jim looked to where she was looking, sighing before getting up.

“I promise you’re safe. Our goal is to help the Earth and help others. We’re in no way looking for trouble. We want our home back just as much as anyone else.”

Jim left without another word, leaving Elara alone with Abyss.

Elara stared at Leonideas for another minute before laying back down, turning her back towards them, Abyss curling up beside her.

I don’t really have a choice but to trust them… but that doesn’t mean I can’t question them.

Elara sighed, closing her eyes.

Just have to make do.