CHAPTER 4

The soldiers-in-training cheered and gave hurrays as Lusive and Leon sparred each other. One brandished a whip while another held a mace. What a spectacular display of quickness. In the span of 5 minutes which felt like hours for the both of them, they suffered minor scratches only.

With the sparring over, the soldiers-in-training left and continued their daily regime. Leon look at his sore hand. A new set of blisters were forming while old ones were hardening. He got up, bid Lusive farewell and went on his way.

In the town center, the people were talking and having their evening chit chat. You could hear the dogs barking and the cats meowing. King Trantoul was there on a make shift stage, holding up a mug of ale.

He gave a speech and told the citizens about his plan to rescue the people of Zion. Some of the citizens cheered, some booed and those who booed became angry. They shouted that resources were low and the Zionist should be left for dead.

King Trantoul tried to calm them but a riot broke out. The soldiers did their best in quelling the mob. A few injuries here and there but nothing serious. Again King Trantoul spoke of his plan and when it will be executed.

On the next day, after having a good sleep, Leon was called to castle grounds. Princess Sara greeted him at the entrance and accompanied Leon to the throne room. They spoke while walking there.

King Trantoul :: “Leon, glad you came”

Leon :: “What would you have of me?”

King :: “I am certain you have heard of my plan to rescue the Zionist”

Leon :: “Yes your majesty”

The King explained to Leon that he won’t be going to Zion as mentioned but Sara will be. This is a trap which King Trantoul has place, hoping that the creatures of the night will think that Shang Wu will be left unprotected on the night he (The King) leaves. Thus, when they attack, they will be in for a surprise.

Sara nodded to Leon to indicate that she has agreed to her father’s plans. Leon shook his head abit before he bowed. Knowing King Trantoul, he has plan this mission well.

Leon :: “I see. I am certain this plan will work.”

King Trantoul :: “Leon. I called you here to ask of a favor.”

Leon :: “Me? Why me?”

King Trantoul :: “As both Adobel and Montahue courses through your veins, I am certain that only you will be able to succeed in a secondary mission.”

King Trantoul motioned to his personal guards that he, his daughter and Leon will be entering his private chambers. Sara jumped on her father’s bed and lied on it as her father begins to tell Leon about the second mission.

Somewhere in Zion lies a cave that contains alchemic minerals which was said to be used in the making of the Alchemic Whip which Leon now possessed. Also, it is said that in Zion, there are a few alchemist who made the whip and may be able to reinstate the alchemy of said whip.

Leon nodded and agreed. A chance to have the whip working as how it should be and on a side note, to be with Sara during the journey was another enticing fact. Sara got up from the bed and bid farewell to both Leon and her father.

It was the ninth night since King Trantoul announced his plan and this was the night before Leon and Sara left Shang Wu with handful of soldiers to Zion. All of them check and recheck their weapons and supply. It will take them at least 50 days or so to rescue all the villagers of Zion.

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Lusive :: “I am impressed”

Leon :: “Thanks. Am I able to…”

Lusive :: “No is the answer. Not that you are not good but I do not want you to experience the pain that each of the Royal Guard has been through.”

Wanting to know more, Leon asked and Lusive motion him to enter the office. There Lusive began to talk about how the Royal Guards were form, how it is not under the control of King Trantoul and why Leon will never be able to join them.

Leon drop the mug he was holding. Did he hear Lusive right? There has to be a mistake some where in the conversation. What Lusive mentioned to Leon was that each Royal Guard was born through dark magic. Each of them had some demon blood running within.

Lusive stood up and pace around the room. He explain that only King Trantoul knows this and even the royal family, the other soldiers and guards do not know. Another thing which Lusive added was that King Trantoul was the only person who can keep their demonic urges in check.

One could hear the winding of the clock at this junction. What a revelation and Leon sat there thinking about what he had heard. Both Lusive and Leon, left the office and went their separate ways.

As Leon walk the cobbled path back into town, a young lady pass him by. Their eyes met for a moment before the belle continued walking away. Leon shook his head and continued walking back. He was still in shock by that.

Just as he enters the doorway of Shang Wu, one of the guards greeted Leon and gave him a letter. King Trantoul has called upon him and after thanking the guards, he made his way to the castle.

There in the throne room sat King Tantroul who beckon Leon to come forward. He then motion everyone to leave the throne room. King Tantroul spoke and asked Leon if he heard about it.

To make sure that it is about the Royal Guards, Leon asked and King Trantoul nodded. Getting up from his throne, King Trantoul asked Leon not to reveal this to anybody. Leon only nodded.

Young Girl :: “Father I have return”

King Trantoul :: “Welcome home Sara”

Leon turned around and looked. Sara was the same girl that passed him by earlier. Both of them wanted to speak but were lost for words. King Trantoul teased his daughter and Leon.

King Trantoul :: “What is this? Why didn’t you tell me that you found someone?”

Sara :: “Daddy!… I mean, your majesty”

King Trantoul :: “Hahahaha! Come along child, you do not need to be formal around me. Leon, I assume you know my daughter?”

Leon :: “No, I do not. I only pass her by when I came back from the barracks”

King Trantoul :: “Ahh. Sara meet Leon. Leon meet Sara”

Both Sara and Leon bowed at each other. After the small introduction, King Trantoul asked for Leon to leave as family matters was needed to be discussed in private. Leon took leave.

King Trantoul :: “What gives in the west Sara?”

Sara :: “Constantine has fallen. Zion its village is undersiege by the creatures of the night.”

The King paced back and forth. As much as he wants to send his soldiers to Zion, he couldn’t risk it. Sara look at her father and saw the worried eyes of his. Both of them knew the risk and consequences.

King Trantoul :: “How many villagers are left in Zion?”

Sara :: “Roughly 50 or so, when I was there. Father, are you thinking of..”

King Trantoul :: “Yes my child. Shang Wu will be the refuge for the Zionist.”

Sara [while bowing] :: “Your Majesty”

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Both of them talked and King Trantoul invited Leon to spar with him there and then. This could be an opportunity to show to the Royal Guards that was there that he is worthy to join them. King Trantoul drew his sword and gestured at Leon.

Slowly Leon walk around King Trantoul while holding the Alchemic Whip in his hand. Believing that the whip will give him some attack distance, he lashed the whip towards the King. With a simple side step and before Leon could retract the whip, he felt a sword on his shoulder.

King Trantoul stood behind him and sheathed his sword. Leon’s mouth was ajar. How did the King move so fast?

A loud commotion was heard as Leon put his clothes on. Quickly he rushed down and out of the inn to see what was the commotion all about. Voices were heard shouting that Princess Trantoul has return. Leon tried to take a peek but the two men in front of him were tall. Looking at the surrounding, he made way to the nearest rooftop for an eagle eye view.

Maybe it was a little bit too much but the rooftop where he thought he could get a good view wasn’t good at all. There were other citizens on other rooftops who had the same idea. Well it is not like the Princess would stop and say hello to him, thus Leon left and went to the barracks to be trained by Lusive.

Crack the egg that is on the melon but do not break the melon. That was what Leon had to do today. Lusive took Leon’s whip and demonstrated that it was possible. Hours after hours, eggs after eggs, melons after melons passed by. Leon was still not able to crack only the egg.

Lying on the gravel, he look up at the cloudy skies. One lone eagle was soared and then perched on a tree branch nearby. Leon observed the eagle who went for the egg that was on the melon. Not only did the eagle manage to take the egg, it did so by not causing the melon to move nor the egg to crack in its feet.

Standing up and dusting himself, Leon continued to practice until finally he manages it. Though he wanted to celebrate, it was close to dinner time and he smelled really eggy. Leon also noticed that he was getting good in controlling the flow of the whip as he was getting injured less from whiplash.

A quick shower and dinner, Leon went back to the now empty barracks and continued practicing. Lucky thing that there was not a shortage of melons and eggs. Also, these were the rotten ones which the creatures of the night had poisoned.

Soon it was dawn and Lusive stood above Leon who was soundly sleeping on the gravel covered with egg and melon. Leon rose up and before he could speak, Lusive signal him to go home and shower. Leon did so and came back with a fresh change of clothes.

Lusive placed some of the soldiers-in-training in a row and place an apple on their head. Leon’s job now was to smash the apple with his whip without injuring the soldier’s head. Without missing a beat, Leon did so with relative ease.

Impressed by his performance, Lusive gave Leon another assignment. This was to train Leon to hit multiple enemies in a single whip and at the same time protect himself from attacks. Few weeks passed by and soon every assignment given by Lusive, Leon could do it with ease.

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And so Astro with the help of Nuffnang called upon a few bloggers to be explorers for their Astro On The Go Live Explorer event that was held recently at Sunway Pyramid. Captain Obvious says that Serge was there early but Boy Oblivious with a hint of Malaysian spices made the event meant for the us explorers; late to start.

So being early, Serge registered first and then waited for his partner in crime Nicole to come.Before all of us headed off into the sunset, figuratively speaking, we were loaned an iPad each. Emcee for the event was Jinnyboy and another person whom we do not know her name.

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The Malaysian Spices that cause the flag off the exploration was due to technical difficulties. Not only were we given 2 iPads, we were given a MiFi device for internet connectivity. However, there was problems to the connection. Serge and Nicole change the modem that was given but at the end of all that is good, it died and Serge switch his personal hotspot on.

Our task and the task of all the participants was to follow clues given by a custom made app from Astro On the Go (AOTG). These clues were split into two sections. Directions to a station and a question. Both Nicole and Serge with their knowledge of Pyramid, manage to find the places easily. The question that was given were mostly related to AOTG which they answered with simplicity.

During the exploration, we tweeted, facebook and even instagram like mad. Nicole and Serge manage to finish quite early and so they waited for the rest. Lunch was serve as Delicious in a buffet style session. Here’s a thing about eateries such as Delicious when they serve food in a buffet fashion; more often than not, the standards of the food will drop.

Nevertheless, the food was good except for the calamari which he took. The taste was rather bland and the use of biscuit crumbs has much to be desired. With all the participants done having their meals, we headed back to know who won. Unfortunately Serge and Nicole was not one of the winning teams.

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The legs of Serge definitely gave out as he spent more time sitting on the floor than standing, while waiting for the winner announcement. He and he is sure that Nicole had fun. Best part of all about events such as this is that Serge got to know Celyx and the cute Jacqueline.

Uncertain if they are reading this, but we thank you for meeting their kind acquaintance. Overall, Astro On The Go did well with the many stations for the public to see what their product is all about. Which can be explain in one simple sentence, “watch tv anytime,anywhere on any device”

So what did Serge do after? He went to Markets of course in Jaya One and met up with Arnold of Pestle & Mortar. This is the first time where Serge kind of missed Markets.

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Saw some usual faces such as Lih Wern and Hanie. Somehow Serge will always see them during Markets and as the day was late and Markets was coming to a close, Serge was just resting up at P&M before he headed to Paradox Art Cafe to listen to good music.

Usually he would be taking photos but this time, Serge took the role of watcher for a short bit before joining Albert and Avril with Jenn and Sani for a game of Politiko. Amazingly virgin Politiko player Sani won twice.

Avril, Albert and Serge discussed about small political things such as voting patterns and such. After awhile, Serge left the place and got home.

AOTG Explorer Photo Album – Flickr | Facebook
Markets 10 Photo Album – Flickr | Facebook

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A knock was heard and a messenger came in and brought a letter for Leon. The King has requested for his attendance at the garden. Quickly putting on his shirt, Leon went off.

While waiting for Leon, King Trantoul spoke to a Royal Guard who was there.

King Trantoul :: “Lusive, the nights are getting longer and I don’t think we can survive another month”

Lusive :: “Yes, even my men of the Royal Guards are getting tired. Our healers are getting tired from the aftermath and the mana which they use to heal us can’t be replenish quickly enough.”
King Trantoul :: “Do we not have enough mana potions?”

Lusive :: “It is depleting slowly. I would say that we have enough for a month and we do not have enough healers who knows how to make it.”

At this time, Leon arrived and King Trantoul introduce him to Lusive. Both of Lusive and Leon were shock as it was Lusive who was the trainer at the barracks. King Trantoul laughed and left them as he had other matters to attend.

Lusive :: “So you’re the boy the King ask me to see”
Leon :: “Apparently so. And your name good sir?”

Lusive :: “Lusive, my name is Lusive, Leon. Since the King ask and you have heard him that it is my choice to take you in or not.”

The birds chirped and the bees were buzzing as Lusive gave instructions to Leon. The mission was simple; to collect leafs from a Myrrh at the forest west of Shang Wu. Thinking this was a simple mission, Leon went back to his room and collected a small pouch and a for some unknown reason, he pocketed the Alchemic Whip as well.

Entering the forest, a cold breeze pass by and made the hair on the back of Leon’s neck stand. Using the map that was given, locating the Myrrh was simple. Plucking the leafs was another matter.

Standing between the Myrrh leafs and him was a pack of Dire Wolfs. Maybe this was part of the initiation to enter the Royal Guards. Leon jump in and began to use his whip. During the first few minutes, he injured only himself and the Dire Wolfs just circle him, keeping their distance.

Two, maybe three hours had passed. Leon return to the barracks where Lusive was waiting. Scanning Leon’s injury, Lusive calculated that it was a pack of 5 Dire Wolfs. Leon nodded to confirm his suspicions. Looking at the amount of Myrrh leafs that was collected, Lucius was impressed. He then motion Leon to go back home and to come back the following morning.

Back in the inn, Leon applied ointment to his injury. Somehow when using the whip, he felt at ease than any other weapons he had tried before. Leon took the whip out from the carrier and pondered if it could be repaired or if he could find a whip from the nearest weapon smith.

After having his dinner and getting information from the locals in town, Leon went to the nearest weapon smith to fix the Alchemic Whip. Though the smith could not imbue the alchemic properties, they could only restrain it from breaking apart temporary.

Better than nothing was what Leon thought. Giving the money, he left the shop and went to the town’s fountain which was located in the center. King Trantoul was there and he waved to Leon to come over.

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CHAPTER 3

There was buzzing and the smell of something delicious woke Leon from his slumber. He got out from his bed and walked down. The innkeeper beckon him to join with the other guest to eat.

After the meal, he left the inn and walked to barracks. This barracks is the training ground of Shang Wu’s soldiers and it was here that Leon believe to be the starting point of his journey to become a Royal Guard.

The trainer of the soldiers was none other than the same Royal Guard who laughed at Leon. Both of them were surprised and the Royal Guard nodded and continued to drill the other trainees. Leon waited for his turn, he wanted to prove his worth.

Standing in front of the trainer, Leon picked up the closes weapon and began to attack as instructed. With a simple sweep of his feet, the trainer trip Leon and began to laugh loudly. By tripping Leon, the assailant fell face first into manure.

Hours pass by and Leon could not land a single strike against the trainer. It was soon getting dark and it was time for the trainer to take on his duties as a Royal Guard. Leon bowed and return to his inn.

The Royal Guard pondered at the sight of Leon who was fading away in the distance. This young man may be the one. He shook his head and laughed at his own thought before donning his enchanted vest.

Meanwhile at the inn, Leon was flat on his back on the bed. Thinking about how he was not able to hit the Trainer with the lance that he chose. Not only that, the trainer only move just few feet and use only his hands to block the attacks.

Screeches from the minions of the night could be heard. Sparks of divine light could be seen. The attacks from Dracula’s minion has been increasing every night. To make matters worse, even the small demons have managed to pass through King Trantoul’s shield with relative ease.

On the following night, a larger mob of demons attack and this time King Trantoul was in the front lines protecting the town folk who couldn’t escape in time. Leon was somewhere near the vicinity when a Will-o-Wisp blinded the King that cause him to trip over a dead body.

Without thinking, Leon rushed forward and block an attack from a Skeleton Knight that was poised to stab the King. Quickly, King Trantoul eradicated the attacking mob before he attended to Leon who was lying on the ground bleeding.

King Trantoul :: “I see that you’re awake Leon”

Leon pulled himself up and held his torso. He remembered being stabbed last night and the pain from it was as fresh as the morning breeze. One of the healers wrapped another bandage on the wound and Leon was warned not to touch it.

Leon :: “I am very sorry for the trouble that I have caused.”

King Trantoul ::” Hogwash! If it wasn’t for you, I would have been filled with holes. It is I that needs to thank you. Now Leon Belmont, I might not have what you need but ask of it and I will try to grant it for you.”

Leon :: “Royal Guard, I want to join.”

King Trantoul :: “Very well, I cannot get you in the Royal Guard as they are a sovereign force. I however can recommend you.”

Leon :: “Thank you Majesty”

The King left the bedside of Leon with his guards following suit. Leon in turn got up and viewed the scenery from the balcony. Though the skies were bluer than usual, something felt really wrong.

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We say some as there are those who manages to pass through the shield and cause havoc. King Trantoul confessed that his divine skills were not strong and he did not know if the shield could last for another year.

Later on, King Trantoul learn that Leon is the only child from the union of the clan of Adobel and Montahue. Somewhere in the background, bells could be heard and a loud rumbling was heard.

King Trantoul ::” HAHAHAHA! I see that you’re hungry, come join me for a meal. It is the best I can do while you’re here in the castle.”

Although Leon wanted to refuse, his stomach was telling him otherwise. He nodded and joined the King for lunch. Thinking that it will be in a private dining room, Leon was shock as the lunch with King Trantoul was at the town hall of Shang Wu.

The citizens bowed and genuflect as their King walk in. Leon took in the surrounding and he learn that ever since the Night of Winter Solstice, food has become scarce and their King has been providing to them his castle’s backup.

Looking at their faces, Leon summarized that the people of Shang Wu cared for their King as much as their King cares for them. Even though everyone has sunken eyes dues to the ever increasing attacks from the creatures of the night, everyone’s eyes were still filled with hope.

As the citizens partake in their daily bread, King Trantoul stood up and began to speak. His words were few yet deep. Everyone who was in the town hall, lifted their mugs and gave a rounding cheer for their King.

After the luncheon, King Trantoul bid farewell to Leon and advised him to stay in town until he gain his strength. Taking his advice, Leon got a room in the inn. As it was only 4pm, Leon walk along the streets and spoke to the folks that was having an idle chit-chat.

Suddenly a loud noise blared out and in the sky were Winged Imps. They were pounding on the shield trying to breakthrough. As quickly as the Winged Imps appeared, the Royal Guards of Shang Wu appeared and dispersed them.

Leon was mesmerized and without skipping a beat, ran towards the Royal Guards. Just as they were about to leave, Leon shouted and ask them to stay. One of the guards stayed while the others flew off.

Royal Guard ::” What do you want citizen?”

Leon ::” I want to join your team, I want to learn how to fight”

Immediately the Royal Guard place his hand on Leon’s shoulder laugh loudly and flew away. While he flew he mentioned that Leon wasn’t good enough and that he should try out farming. Though he was filled with rage, Leon knew what was said is true.

The Royal Guards of Shang Wu was an elite group and judging by the age of the guard just now, the average age was around 30 over. Not only was Leon too young, his eyes were not like the guards which had seen many deaths caused by the creatures of the night and also of their own doing.

Nevertheless, Leon was determine to join them.

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