Surviving the arrival

The usually calm back streets were alive with noise. A young man ran through the streets, knocking over anything in his path, almost falling over as gunshots were heard. A couple of meters behind the man came two other men, bursting through some chicken cages that were stacked up, causing more of a racket. The young man looked back with a worried look on his face, looking to see how far the men were. He dived to the ground and hit the ground just as bullets whizzed past him. He scurried to get back to his feet and took a turn into the busy street.

“You can't hide Lucien! There's nowhere to hide in this dump!” Yelled one of the pursuers.

Lucien barged into people and forced others out of the way. This was a foolish mistake for him as it created a near perfect path to him. The pursuers aimed towards him and shot. Lucien dived again, barely missing the bullets as they embedded themselves in a wooden pillar of a market stall. The crowd was sent into a panic, almost dissipating instantly. Lucien got back up and ran back into an alleyway. He was barely around the corner when he ran into a big man and was knocked down.

“Ungh! WHAT THE HELL! MOVE!”Screamed Lucien, scuttling to get to his feet.

“In some trouble I see. Hide behind this stranger!” Demanded the big man as he dropped a crate almost as big as Lucien.

Lucien paused for a second before hiding behind the crate. The big man then opened up the crate, taking metal objects out as if nothing had happened. The pursuers came rushing around the corner, both running into the big man, who fell to the ground with them.

“Hey watch it!” Yelled the big man as he got up.

“He came this way! Where are you hiding him you freak!?” screamed one of the pursuers.

“Been quite some time since I heard someone call me that... The name, by the way, is Marinus!”

As Marinus finished his sentence, he pulled his sword out of the box and hit both men in the stomach with the hilt. The force was strong enough to send them both flying back and sliding across the dirt of the back street. The two pursuers lay dazed from the attack. Marinus grabbed hold of Lucien and pulled him deeper into the alleyway, where a lot of people had gathered after the gunfire.

“WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME!” Lucien demanded to know.

“We need to get to the academy, it'll be safe there. Unfortunately it's on the other side of the city.” Replied Marinus.

The pursuers did not give up in their attempts to kill Lucien, charging into the crowded back street, shoving people out of the way.

“C'mon, we need to go before they shoot. Someone will get hurt if they shoot in a place like this.” Marinus said, hastily weaving between people and crates.

“By the way, what's your name stranger?” Asked Marinus, as his walk turned into a jog.

“Lucien Flair. I've become an enemy of the only man I thought was family.” Replied Lucien as he started to push people out of the way to keep up.

The pair ran down a small alleyway, which lead back to the main street. If they ever wanted to escape, they would have to run in a more opened area.

Kira was leading Rion and Elana down the main street towards the acadamy. Once again the larger biuldings had dissappeared and only the smaller, shabbier, damaged biuldings remained. Yet somehow this place seemed more alive and populated then the outskirts of a small town should be. Some people were making a right noise, and others where running in the opposite direction. Then, Kira heard it, the reason why some people where running away, and why the atmosphere had a hint of panic. A gunshot, only faint, sounded through the air, but it wasn't a single shot, a number of shots. This is bad Kira thought to himself. If there was indeed trouble, Kira could handle himself. But what of Rion and Elana. Those two didn't seem to be able to hold there own against gunfire. Never mind the fact both were completely nervous when they saw him.

You two, run towards the acadamy, and don't stop until you reach the front gates. You need to get out of here. I'm going to find out just what is causing that gunfire. And whatever it is, it isn't from Lexeria. Let ment one thing to Kira, Haven may be comprimised if outsiders could get to Lexeria. After speaking, Kira launched himself into a sprint, running in the direction of the gunfire. Still on the main street, Kira had no idea if Elana and Rion had followed his orders and left for the acadamy, but he couldn't worry about those two now. Kira had to focus on who was causing those gunshots. More and more people were running in towards Kira, then past him, most of them had looks of terror on there faces. Others were screaming, or gathering loved ones and taking them away from the area. Then there was no more people, Kira must be reaching the source of the gunshots. Stopping his sprint, Kira turned to face a lonely, dark alleyway. Down the alley, there were two figures, closing in on him. Kira reached back for one of his blades, but before he pulled it from its strap, he began to reconize one of te figures. His tall stature, even bulkier then Kira. That could only be one man. One of Kira's teachers at Haven. Marinus.

Both Marinus and Lucien were either very lucky to be able to avoid the constant gunfire, or the men chasing them had poor aiming skills. Marinus looked ahead, seeing one of his pupils and instantly signalled to him to hide. Lucien on the other hand had a different plan.

“HEY! Help us out will ya!” He yelled, almost out of breath.

Even though this alerted the chasers that there was aid, Marinus still used Kira's location as an advantage, he signalled for him to hide behind the building, ready to surprise the chasers. As Lucien and Marinus came out of the alleyway, Marinus pushed Lucien to the side, sending him sliding across the ground. Marinus turned and faced the men coming out of the alleyway, readying his blade in a defensive position to deflect any bullets. The pursuers sent an onslaught of bullets towards Marinus, but his sword and his shielded left arm deflected the bullets.

“NOW!” Marinus yelled in a deep voice.

At his command, the pursuers tumbled to the ground, dropping their weapons in the process. Marinus kicked the guns away to make sure that they had no chance of hitting any bystanders. The men steadied themselves and drew out long daggers, refusing to give up.

“Don Mikael sent us to rid this planet of that freak! We will kill him, or be killed trying!” said one of the men, as he went back to back with his ally.

“There has to be a better way of solving this. I will not let it end in bloodshed. Kira, knock that one out for us.” Marinus said in reply.

Marinus swung the hilt of his sword at one of the men, while the other charged at Kira. The hilt of Marinus' sword missed the first guy and left Marinus open for attacks. The guy took a stab at Marinus,but his blade only made sparks as it slid across Marinus' shielded arm. The guy was instantly greeted by Marinus' boot, sending him colliding into the wall of a building.

“Please, just give up and go! You won't win!” pleaded Marinus.

The man got back up and charged towards him, flinging his dagger at Marinus. The dagger was deflected by a strong swing from Marinus' sword, sending the dagger soaring into the sky like a missile. Marinus followed through with his sword, collecting the man with the flat side of the sword sending him this time towards Lucien. When Lucien saw the man hurtling towards him, he picked up the guns that were dropped by the men and fired blindly towards the roof of the building. The bullets hit a heavy plank of wood, which came crashing down, landing on top of the guy just a few inches before Lucien. Lucien covered his head andscreamed, fearing his shot had failed him, but stood up when he noticed he still had his life.

“Oh god! I swear my heart just punched my chest repeatedly” Lucien said with a sigh of relief.

Marinus looked on with disbelief at the boy's luck, wondering if he could be of any use at the academy.

“Why... Don't you stay around here for a while. We'll make sure that these guys are sent back to where they came from and never come back.” Marinus said, extending his arm out in friendship.

Without any hesitation , Lucien accepted the offer.

“Might as well stick around, got nowhere important to be.” Lucien said in a smart-alleck way.

Marinus was always happy to have someone new join the academy, and he knew that Lucien would become a great student at the academy. He was so lost in his thoughts that he had forgotten about the two men.

“Oh right, these guys. I'll make sure that they leave this place. Kira, can you show Lucien to the academy?” Marinus said, lifting the plank of wood off one of the men and picking him up.

After picking up the other man, Marinus headed off to the borders of the land, leaving Lucien and Kira alone.