Empire Friends (Part 2):  Written by Exodus, Original Story by Exodus  

In the Evalon Empire, little squabbles were turning into big rivalries, as Krytus 
planned to do away with Turok in order to win the affections of Helena.  

Just before Krytus did the deed, Turok and Eddy were making conversation.  
Eddy, or Ed’ as he was commonly known, wore a green coat and silver armour, red 
trousers and orange boots, he had short black hair, and was a valiant 
sharpshooter, just like Turok.  
But Ed was withdrawn and stubborn, he could be quite a nice guy sometimes, but 
he had given in to the empire, and served them without resistance, or so it 
seemed.  

“And she’s just so great, she’s so kind and fun to be with and-”  
“Turok!” said Ed’ annoyed, “Haven’t we heard enough about your chick?”  
“You got something against her?!” shouted Turok.  
“No, but if you don’t concentrate, you’re going to get in trouble!”  
Turok pushed Ed in anger, into the space where he had been for some time.  
Turok could see small particles of dust falling from above Ed, and quickly 
tackled him out of the way as the debris came crashing down.  
“Turok...  You saved my life... and after all I said about your girl.  I owe you 
one...”  

Krytus was annoyed, “Uh oh! Bet’er not ge’ caught with moi ‘ands red, Oi bet Oi 
can get Lil’ Sister ta loike me without resor’in’ ta killin’ anyway.”  
He ran from the scene of the crime before too much attention was drawn to the 
site.  

The next day in the labs, Kirie’s room was unlocked by someone, Morn was 
standing with two former ensigns, whose blundering cost the empire half of Ryll 
Village’s people, according to Brutor anyway.  
They had been demoted to guarding Morn’s lab, and carrying out his wishes, part 
defender and part lab assistant, at least until Morn made any long term 
decisions about a real lab assistant, one that could be trusted with the more 
darker inhumane experiments of his.  
Joe and Moe took one of Kirie’s arms, and rudely awakened her as they dragged 
her out.  
“Wh-What are you doing?!”  
She struggled and kicked Moe hard in the leg since he hadn’t properly restrained 
her side.  
“Agh! Pain! Serious pain!” he shouted.  
“Shut up you fool.” Morn shouted, then quieted his tone a little, “Kirie, we are 
going to perform a simple test, my dear, if you had just told us you were 
half-Gaian, I wouldn’t be resorting to force.”  
“Gaian?” she questioned, “Those magic people? I’m not one of them, I don’t have 
any powers...”  
She gasped suddenly, as she remembered her mother Kyos, the incident when her 
friend Alan’s house was destroyed, she thought her mother had just gone crazy 
and torched the place, but the instant when she looked at her through demonic 
eyes, she had somehow blocked it out and forgotten about it.  
It was true, her mother was a Gaian, who must have lost control of her powers, 
it made sense, but she knew that somehow her mother had prevented her or her 
father from inheriting any of the destructive powers.  
“But you will, my dear, you are a Gaian in form, but you’ve gained none of the 
powers.  I’ve tried for some time to transfer a Gaian’s power into Calians but 
failed, it’ll take years of research before a Gaian’s magic can be transferred 
to Calians beyond normal methods.  But I know that you’ll be able to handle a 
transfusion.  It was taken from a very powerful Gaian with plasma powers, but I 
modified it into a psychic strand.  This will be my gift to you, and you will be 
my prize for the great Iyaxxl, you’ll be the most powerful Gaian, and our 
greatest weapon.”  
“You talk as if I want this, well I don’t! I don’t want to fight or kill and I 
definitely don’t want to be your science project! Let me go!”  
“You don’t have to worry, I’m very sure it’ll work.”  
“And if it doesn’t?”  
“It’ll be disappointing, but I don’t mind sacrificing a little in order to gain 
so much.”  
“I’m a human being! You can’t do this!”  
“I’m the boss of this place and if I say something can be done, it can!” shouted 
Morn, producing a needle and injecting Kirie with the product he had been 
talking about, through her neck.  
“Agh!” she screamed, the product shooting through her body instantly and causing 
it to spasm and then become paralysed.  
“Weak little girl! We’ll soon change that.” said Morn harshly.  
“You’re not fit to be human...” cursed Kirie.  
“Now that the psychic strand is in your body, all we need to do is awaken it...”  

The two guards took Kirie to the next room and locked her in a huge cylinder 
tube.  
“No!” she screamed, pounding on the clear glass, “NO!!!”  
“Now awaken Great Magic!” said Morn dramatically as he hit a button.  
Yellow waves circled around Kirie, said to awaken her new powers at a fast rate, 
but as some of them touched her, they left searing burns.  
Having been dragged out of bed, Kirie’s nightwear left little to the 
imagination, but exposed a great deal of her fair skin to this part of the 
experiment.  
The waves continued to burn fresh scars into her face and body, it finally 
ended, but Kirie was a mess now, she had a lot of torn wounds all over her 
figure.  
“How do you feel?...” asked Morn, overlooking the damage done and caring only 
for the conclusion.  
“You do all this to me, and now you ask how I feel?! I’ve never truly hated 
anyone before, even when my village turned against me, but now...  You deserve 
everything you get!” she screamed.  
“I don’t believe it, it didn’t work! I was sure I did everything right...  Lock 
her up with the other Gaian.” grumbled Morn.  
“You won’t treat me like some animal...” said Kirie through clenched teeth, 
tears were streaming down her face, Morn had ruined her beauty, surely no one 
would want to look at her again, and he didn’t care one bit about what he’d 
done, only about the results of his experiment.  
She didn’t notice that her hands were glowing yellow.  
“What?! Grab her quickly!” shouted Morn.  
The two guards ran forward, along with Morn, and Kirie screamed, unleashing a 
wave of visible psychic energy and knocking all three out.  
Kirie breathed nervously, staring at her hands, “So, this is my power...  But 
what will I do with it? If Morn is so downright evil, then, is the whole empire 
just as bad?...  All I know is, that I can’t stay here...  I have to get out of 
this place...”  

Kirie left the three where they were, and packed her things, she started looking 
for clothing that would cover everything, she found it in the forms of her brown 
gloves and boots with yellow string around the wrists and ankles, a sleeveless 
woolly green top, and her black tights and skirt, but she had scars on her face 
and arms, they were harder to conceal.  
Upon checking her wounds again, Kirie saw that they had sealed themselves up, 
Kirie felt her skin, it felt normal but the marks remained, and strangely glowed 
a pale purple.  
“I don’t believe this...  There’s still a way to keep this quiet...”  
Tearing the violet curtains off the wall, Kirie attached long strips around her 
arms, and a small piece to her tiara that her mother had given her for her sixth 
birthday, after looking in the mirror, Kirie realised that her intuition was 
correct, as long as she wore purple over them, the scars weren’t visible to 
anyone, but her face was unclear too, along with her vision, of course, 
everything had a purple colour when the veil was on.  
She gave a sigh of relief, “Its not as bad as I thought.  Time to leave this 
place, but I can’t go home, not like this, and those judgemental fools would 
just insult me, or worse, hurt me if the empire attacked them because I went 
back on their deal...  Oh I don’t know, I’ll just go wherever I get to I guess.  
Wait a minute, Morn mentioned something about another Gaian in the dungeon...  I 
can’t leave anyone to be experimented on, I’ll take the Gaian with me...”  

“I know he said he’d find me, but he doesn’t even know where to look...  I need 
you my knight...  I cannot get through this alone...” said Edwina out loud, she 
talked a lot like this recently, it was the only way to stay sane.  
She gasped as Kirie entered the cell.  
“Are you the other Gaian?” asked Kirie.  
“You’re a new face.” said Edwina with a frown, “What does Morn want now?”  
“In general, he wants to exploit people in the name of science.”  
“Excuse me?”  
“But I will be exploited no longer, you don’t have to be either.”  
Kirie instinctively put her hands on the sides of her head and concentrated, 
Edwina’s shackles broke in a small explosion, and Edwina tumbled to the floor.  
“Sorry.” apologised Kirie, helping her up.  
“You’re a Gaian too...” said Edwina surprised and happily.  
“Hey, us Gaians should stick together.  We’re leaving and you’re coming with 
me...”  

Later that day, in the dining area, Lucia was alone, Krytus strode in 
confidently and leaned on her table.  
“’ello there.  You’re ‘elena’s lil’ sister, aren’t you?”  
“Oh god.” thought Lucia, “What’s she up to now?”  
“Yes I am.” she answered.  
“May Oi si’ ‘ere?” asked Krytus.  
“No I’m afraid, I’m waiting for someone...  My Date...” she stressed.  
“That weaklin’ we picked up in Grautz? Oi’m much stronger than ‘im!”  
“Ahem.” said Turok firmly, “It looks like you’re bothering my friend.  Get 
lost!”  
“Or what?! You’ll teach me a lesson?” provoked Krytus.  
“If I have to.”  
“’ow dare you talk back ta me! Oi’ll kill you!”  
Neither had weapons, so Krytus swung his fist, Turok ducked it and threw Krytus 
into a table, Krytus leapt forward, but was held back by Brutor, and Lucia 
blocked Turok’s way.  
“No more Turok.” she pleaded, “I don’t want to see anyone get hurt!”  
“Okay Lucia, let’s discuss our date somewhere else.  I don’t like the company 
here...”  
“Don’t do it Krytus!” yelled Brutor, “Do ye want tae lose yir promotion?!”  
“But-”  
“So the lad humiliated ye, wait until ye’re promoted first, then there might be 
some accidents in store fer that lad.”  
“Oi loike that plan.” smiled Krytus.  
“Krytus.” said Helena calmly.  
“’elena! Did you-”  
“Yes I saw everything, and I think you’re pathetic, not only do you think I’ll 
be jealous of you for talking to my sister, but you let that ‘weakling’ beat 
you? If he’s so weak and you lost to him, that makes you weaker.”  
“Grrrr, Oi made you what you are, you owe me!”  
“I owe you nothing, I was destined to turn out this way, I’ve always hated you 
Krytus, don’t ever think I’ll be your girl.”  
“But Oi...  Ugh! That kid is goin’ ta pay!” screamed Krytus.  

“No! NO! NO!!! I don't believe this!” yelled Morn, “I give her what others dream 
of and she runs away!”  
“Dir...” said Joe, still recovering from the Ryll incident.  
“The other one.” said Moe, limping a little, “She’s gone too.”  
“Grrrr! She’s going to pay for this! I’ll tear apart her village until she 
submits and serves the empire!!!” screamed Morn.  

Later that day, Kirie and Edwina had gotten as far away from the empire as they 
could.  
They had acquired an old empire boat and had headed out north.  
“Why are we out here? I read about a demonic serpent that resided here, it 
destroys boats and eats their crew.” said Edwina nervously.  
“That’s just a legend from the demon age, I... don’t know why exactly I’m drawn 
here, but ever since I got these stupid psychic powers, something’s been calling 
me here, I can’t really explain...” said Kirie vaguely.  
“And you say your powers are a variant of mine?”  
“Morn modified your powers into ones that could be summoned from one’s mind, and 
gave them to me, but at the cost of my beauty.”  
“Thus, the veil.  So how come you’re Gaian, but had no power?”  
“My mother was last seen at the wreckage of a house, disappearing into the 
flames, I never figured out what she was then, but I understand now that she 
lost control of her powers, I suppose she wanted to protect me from that life.”  
“Oh...  I’m sorry...”  
Before another word could be said, the boat was destroyed in an instant by a 
huge green serpent which screamed ferociously.  
“I told you!” shouted Edwina, “Its Serpentine, the legendary sea serpent!”  
“Please...  Hear my plea and harm us not...” she Kirie pleadingly, while they 
were leaving the capital city, Kirie discovered another ability brought on by 
the psychic strand, the ability to influence people’s decisions.  
Instead, an explosion hit the head of the serpent.  
“Oh.  That wasn’t meant to happen...” groaned Kirie, “Oh, I can’t use my power 
properly!”  
“We have many things to learn, the lesson starts now.” said Edwina.  
She let the guardian spirit take over, since the incident in Balass, Edwina knew 
how to summon her guardian spirit, though she had yet to see what Energen could 
do for her without the influence of others.  
“I am Energen...  Just as I fought for your ancestors with the plasma power, I 
shall fight for you!” said Edwina/ Energen, immersed in green flames and looking 
a little different.  
“Edwina?” questioned Kirie.  
“Raaaaarrr!!!” she screamed, only to get eaten by the serpent.  
“No!” screamed Kirie.  
She burst right out, the demonic creature swayed around in pain, and the being 
pushed herself right through its body.  
It collapsed and sunk into the sea, while Edwina reverted back to normal and 
fell in the water unconscious.  
Kirie swam towards her with a plank of wood from the boat, and pulled Edwina up.  
“What now?...  We’re gonna die all alone.” groaned Kirie, “Stupid powers, 
Stupid! Stupid-”  
“Is someone there?” said a distant voice.  
“Over here!” called Kirie.  

Later on, Kirie and Edwina rested on a large ship.  
“So what are you two girls doing out here?” asked Captain Mac.  
“I was... called here, by my power.” explained Kirie vaguely.  
“Power?...” mused the captain, “And what do you seek out here?”  
“I don’t know, Morn gave me this stupid power, so I can’t trust it, all I know 
is that the empire is evil!” replied Kirie.  
“Empire...” said Mac, “The Evalon Empire?...”  
“You know about them too?”  
“Vaguely.  So you won’t go back there, but will you fight them?”  
“Fight them?...  I’m no fighter!” spluttered Kirie.  
“But you have power, will you ignore it and watch as the empire destroys 
kingdoms? You should use your power for good, don’t make the same mistake I 
did...”  
Kirie was silent.  
“We will...  We must...” groaned Edwina, stepping up slowly, she hadn’t regained 
her strength, “The empire must be brought to justice...”  
“And you?...” asked the captain.  
“I’ll try.” said Kirie sadly.  
“Then I shall take you to a place where others feel the same way...”  

Back at the empire, Morn was in trouble.  
“YOU FOOL!” shouted Emperor Iyaxxl, “You revealed everything to her, then let 
her escape, WITH THE PRINCESS?! They are going to ruin everything I have worked 
for!”  
“Its not all lost yet Sir.” said Morn carefully.  
“Princess Edwina is the last living heir to the throne, no one would serve me if 
this came out!” said Iyaxxl sternly.  
“We’ll just have to make the people believe she’s not fit to rule.  That traitor 
you’ve been telling everyone about, we’ll just say it was her, if anyone has 
seen her powers, they’re sure to believe she could corrupt your soldiers.”  
“The princess... murdering her father in order to rule...” mused Iyaxxl, “So 
Edward asked for me to rule...  Its perfect.”  
Morn smiled, “I’ll alert the other kingdom leaders, they know me as King 
Edward’s loyal scientist and you as Edward’s advisor.  Though I don’t think you 
can influence them in your condition.”  
“Interesting...” smiled Iyaxxl, but then he thought, “But what’s going to stop 
Edwina from telling people otherwise?”  
“We’ll also put a price on her head, we might even get her back this way.  Once 
she finds out we’ve said this, she’ll probably keep quiet, and she won’t be able 
to tell the public about us, because she’d have to reveal who she is to have 
that knowledge.”  
“Good job Morn, you just saved your worthless hide.  Now leave me and don’t come 
back until you have something for my empire to gain from!”  
“Yes Sir.”  

At the Resistance Base, Mac had brought the two half-Gaians to Gear, they had 
the power and the will to fight the empire.  
“... And that’s about it.” finished Gear after an explanation of the Resistors, 
“Mac said you two had Gaian magic.”  
“She does.” explained Kirie sadly, “Me, I’m not so sure about...  My power came 
from an evil man, I can’t even control it fully, I’d be a danger to you all.”  
“Kirie, I noticed you’re wearing a veil, you’re hiding something.”  
“You don’t want to see me without it, hey! What’re you doing?!” she protested, 
as Gear lifted the veil up and observed her face.  
“You think so?” asked Gear softly, “I understand why you might hide it, but 
there’s no need to hide anything from the people here, so you have deep scars, 
no one will judge you because of them.”  
“... Don’t ever do that again.” she said firmly.  
“I’m sorry, you obviously don’t trust us yet.  Kirie, we can help you here, I 
know we can, if you just let us.”  
Kirie gazed into his eyes and saw honesty and kindness in them.  
“Alright, I’ll do my best Gear, the empire must be stopped, and I shouldn’t be 
afraid to use my power for the good of everyone.”  
“Now, tell me how you got those burns, they’re not natural and I might be able 
to find a way to cleanse you of them.”  
“That’s really possible?”  
“Anything is, provided we try our best...”  

Edwina had left Gear and Kirie to a private talk, and wandered around, she 
didn’t go too far and ended up in the underground docks, Ross was waving to Mac, 
who was hastily leaving on another journey.  
“Hello.” she said innocently.  
“It couldn’t be...  It is...  You’re here!” said Ross recognising the voice.  
“My... knight...” she said, crying a little.  
Ross came up to her hugged her in happiness.  
“I was afraid I’d never find you, that I wouldn’t be able to-”  
Edwina suddenly gasped and pushed Ross away.  
“What was that?...”  
She stopped talking when she realised the sharp cold claws she had felt, were a 
part of him.  
“Oh my...” she said.  
Ross closed his eyes and looked down.  
“So you noticed at last.  I’m not a normal knight, I can’t be, not since Brutor 
sliced off my arm.”  
He deactivated the metal arm and held it in his hand.  
“Put it back on.” she advised, “Do not take off your arm just to make me 
comfortable.”  
“If you’re too disturbed by being protected by someone with a metal arm and 
robotic enhancements all through his body, then I understand.  I don’t like it, 
but I understand.”  
“What you mean ‘enhancements’?...”  
“Ever since that robot dragged you away, I had an operation done, now my body 
can support my arm’s full capabilities, I’m stronger than ever now, and I was 
hoping you’d understand when I finally found you.”  
“You did that for me?...”  
“For the most part, yes.  I needed the extra strength in order to protect the 
innocent.”  
“That’s so nice, no one’s ever done anything like you have for me.”  
“Huh?”  
“Can we start over, I was just shocked because I did not know it was a part of 
you, and now that I do, I don’t have to be afraid of it.  I know I am likely to 
join your group, but are you still willing to protect me? I can’t pay you 
anything until-”  
“Don’t even think about charging me.  If people know about your powers, you 
could be in great danger.”  
Edwina gasped a little, “My power, please, you must not tell anyone that was me, 
I was being controlled that day.”  
Ross looked guilty, “I kinda told Gear, he was there that day so of course there 
would be questions, but I don’t think he’d kick you out for something you 
couldn’t control.”  
“Oh...”  
Ross looked at her and noticed his old scarf around her arm.  
“When I said, don’t take it off until I told you to, I didn’t mean that 
literally, I meant-”  
“This has been giving me the hope I urgently needed, I wanted to keep it.”  
“Whoever’s after you sounds very dangerous, but I’ll stand by your side until 
they’ve been defeated.”  
“That could take a while, you see, there’s a man named Brutor in the ranks of 
the ones who are chasing me.”  
“The Evalon Empire is after you?”  
“Yes, the same Evalon Empire I was told you are fighting against.”  
“I didn’t expect things to be easy, lady, its no problem.”  
“But surely you know how dangerous they are.”  
“Do you think I’ll change my mind? I made a promise to protect you, its taken a 
lot of time to follow through on it, but I haven’t changed my mind.  We’re 
aiming to put a stop to the Evalon Empire anyway and now that I know they’re 
after you, I can see you’ll need protection even if you choose to fight with us.  
I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe, as long as you don’t mind a 
freak for your knight.”  
“If that’s your definition of a freak, then I guess I’m a freak too.”  
Ross looked up at Edwina and smiled.  
“You look better when you smile, you should do it more often.” she said 
genuinely.  
“You’re different, but in a good way, I know I’ll be your knight, but I’d really 
like to get to know you.”  
“And I would like to know everything about you.”  
“In that case, we’d better introduce ourselves properly, my name is Ross Rook.”  
“I am Pr-”  
“Sir Ross! Have you heard!” shouted a soldier, “There’s stories going around of 
King Edward’s daughter!”  
“I didn’t know he had a daughter, so?”  
“She’s been rumoured to be the one who killed King Edward, and she’s also been 
leading armies to conquer villages.  Even the empire want to get their hands on 
her.”  
“Are you sure about this?”  
“I’m afraid so Sir, someone tipped off the world leaders.  Watch out for her, 
she sounds dangerous.”  
“You were saying?” asked Ross.  
“... I, um, Priscilla, Edwina Priscilla.” she panicked.  
Edwina suddenly felt afraid, she was nervous enough about being here, even with 
a knight to protect her.  
After so many terrible things had happened to her, she didn’t want a possible 
life of happiness to vanish because of the empire’s lies.  
But now she couldn’t help the Resistors by using the information she had about 
the empire’s plans, even if she hid her identity Edwina couldn’t think of any 
way to explain why Morn would tell her all their plans without revealing who she 
truly was.  
She’d have to wait until this rumour got old, and the empire showed their true 
colours, hopefully by then, the Resistors would have the force to defeat them, 
and the compassion to believe her.  
“Nice to meet you Edwina.”  
“We’ll show you around, with you two on our side, I’m sure we’ll beat the 
empire.” said Gear, who had just arrived with Kirie after a talk.  

They both departed deeper into the base, new friendships were forming and so 
were the brand new fighting force known as The Resistors.  

End  

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