Chapter 3 – Two Against Two
“I’m telling you that our animals
are superior to yours,” Juno continues to argue.
“And I’ve been telling you that
what you’re saying doesn’t matter,” Rex again rebukes, “Wolves and bears have nothing
on our elephants and lions.”
“My victories can invalidate that.”
“But have to seen them in a two on
two fight before? I have. Elephants are the best since they can beat almost
anything.”
“Anything except our animals.”
Rustling in the grass and loud stomping
sounds cease their arguing as they look around to see what is making the noise.
“Are there any wolves and bears in
this area?” Rex asks.
“There might be bears, but no wolf or
bear I know of makes stomping sounds like that,” Juno says.
The sounds get closer and closer
until a large elephant and bear barrels towards them while knocking down all
the trees around them. They dodge out of the way to and see that the animals
are undead with armor from their respective kingdoms.
“Whoever is behind this must really
want us not to find out who they are.”
“How are we even going to beat
them?”
The elephant goes after Rex while
the bear goes after Juno. As the two are slowly separated, their limbs start to
fall off their body, so they try to come back together, but the animals don’t
allow it. Once they are in pieces, the animals swipe them away and go back from
where they came from. Rex and Juno get closer as they put themselves together.
“What should we do? They already
know our biggest weakness,” Juno says.
“I hate to say it, but we have to
work together. It’s the only thing we can do.”
“I will help us get through this,
but I won’t follow your every order if I think you’re going to do something
wrong.”
“No, don’t. That’s probably what
they’re hoping we do so they can separate us. We have to act in unison and
stick close to one another.”
“Even if we do that, we can’t kill
those beasts with our swords.”
“I don’t think we have to. They
stopped pursuing us, so there must be a point at which they’ll stop chasing us.
Let’s hope they won’t approach a town. Are there any near here?”
“The closest place is the capital
and we still have quite a long way to go.”
“I don’t think they would be bold
to let the undead into the capital, but we have to try to get passed them together.
Are you ready?”
“What do I have to lose?”
Rex and Juno face the bear and elephant
again. They focus on fighting the bear and cripple it by taking out its legs.
As the bear recovers, they go after the elephant and take out one of its legs.
“Come on, Juno! Let’s go while they’re
putting themselves back together!”
Rex and Juno run as fast as they
can in the direction that the elephant and bear came from as the undead animals
have recovered. The undead animals charge at the two at full speed and are
about to run them down. Seeing the incoming threat, Rex tackles Juno out of the
way so that their attack misses them. Both Rex and Juno refuse to acknowledge
him saving her, so they continue running as the undead circle around to them.
The two keep running until they reach a gravesite with graves that have been
dug up.
“Who could’ve done this?” Rex asks.
“I’m really starting to think that
someone in your kingdom did this,” Juno says.
“Why’s that? You know that after
every battle both sides gather the dead and send them back to their respective
kingdoms. We would never do anything so horrible.”
The elephant and bear quickly catch
up to Rex and Juno. Juno takes Rex’s hand and pulls him away from the graves.
“Come on! We have to get out of
here,” Juno says.
Rex sees Juno’s determination to
protect the graves of the dead and goes along with her. The elephant and bear
ignore the graves and chase after the two as they try to cut them off. Rex and
Juno try to fight one at a time again, but the two undead animals make sure to
protect one another. The elephant manages to grab Juno and throw her away. Rex
chases after Juno so they don’t fall apart. He catches her as she falls out of
the sky. Again, both don’t acknowledge Rex’s saving action.
“This isn’t going well,” Juno says.
“I’m open to whatever suggestions
you have.”
The bear and elephant charge into
them and knock them in the same direction with their body parts flying away.
They put themselves together quickly, but they put themselves together with each
other, so their bodies are combined.
“This is bad,” Juno says.
“Yeah, but we can take advantage of
it.”
“How?”
“We have double the strength and
both of our swords. Let’s do the same thing they did to us and cut them apart.”
“It’s worth a shot.”
“Go after the bear first!”
Rex and Juno charge at the bear and
cut off its legs and head then immediately go for the elephant. While
attacking, they mix the bear’s body parts with the elephant’s so they’re unable
to move. The bear’s head goes where the elephant’s foot is and the elephant’s
trunk goes where the bear’s head is, and before they know it, Juno and Rex have
crippled the animals by making the undead animals combine their bodies in a way
that makes them unable to move at all.
“Good job, Juno!”
“Thank you. We couldn’t have done
this without each other’s help. Uh, can we separate now?”
“Oh, of course.”
Rex and Juno cut themselves apart
so they can properly put themselves back together. Juno goes back to the graves,
kneels, and prays for them. Rex does the same to her surprise. The two then
clean up the graves as best and as quickly as they can. While they’re cleaning
things up, a hooded man approaches them. They cloak their heads to hide their
identity from him.
“What happened here?” the man asks.
“Wild animals, sir. We’re cleaning
up the damage they did,” Rex says.
“That’s very kind of you, especially
since you’re from a different kingdom.”
“You know who I am?”
“Who wouldn’t recognize a prince such
as yourself?”
“Who are you?”
“Don’t you recognize me?”
The man takes off his hood to
reveal his identity to the surprise of Rex and Juno.
“Mr. Nevar? What are you doing all
the way out here?”
“What are you talking about, Rex?”
Juno asks, “That’s Raven, the advisor to the queen.”
“What are you talking about? It’s
Nevar, the advisor to the king.”
“I can clearly see who it is and
there’s no way I can be mistaken.”
“Same with me.”
“Dang it, who are you really?” Rex
says to the man.
“I am who you both say I am. The reason
why you see me as two different people is because I placed a spell on myself
that makes me look and sound like two different people. The people from Giorno
see me as Nevar while the people from Notte see me as Raven. I am sorry for the
deception, but you must know that I did it with the best of intentions.”
“What are you talking about?
Explain yourself.”
“Your parents and I had very
different ideas on how to bring peace to your kingdoms. First, we tried to
convince the rulers and their advisors of peace talks, but they didn’t want to
hear it. I came up with my own plan that I knew they wouldn’t approve of, so I
had to make sure that they wouldn’t interfere with it.”
“You were the one who is behind
their assassination attempts?!” Juno asks.
“They weren’t assassination
attempts. I scared them off with my undead soldiers and made sure they were on
the run. My plan is to make both kingdoms undead so that the endless war will
stop. There won’t be any more killing or struggles if no one is capable of
dying.”
“What? God and the Church would
never approve of this.”
“Are you sure about that? My
sympathizers have tested releasing prayers and some of the undead stay in their
bodies. I’ve even seen through the eyes of my undead that the prayer doesn’t
work on you.”
“Do you mean to control both
kingdoms and erase our free will?”
“You’re in control of yourself and
a few others are. I don’t want to control people’s lives. I just want to push
them in the right direction.”
“Why did you bring us back to life?”
Rex asks.
“Because I’ve gained Divine Knowledge
and this knowledge has led me to the revelation that God wants both kingdoms to
unify under love.”
“Of course God would want that. That’s
not special to learn.”
“No, you misunderstand me. He wants
the kingdoms to unify under the love between you two.”
“What?!” Rex and Juno say in
unison.
“Two lovers from two kingdoms that
hate each other is something told of in legends. It’s a miracle only God can
make happen.”
“But we killed each other! What
makes you think we were going to fall in love?!” Juno says.
“Because God wills it. Even if I
didn’t bring you back, you would’ve come back anyway. Besides, you and so many
others should be thanking me for bringing them back. The hatred and bloodlust
that the kingdoms have for each other are enough to send their entire population
to Hell. I came here to save people from their hatred and war. I’ll be going
back to the castle to advise the queen that an attack has happened here so that
she and her armies will become undead.”
“Do you really think we’re going to
let you do that? We may be undead, but you’ll die if we cut your head off,” Rex
says as both he and Juno point their swords at Nevar.
“Yes, I do.” Nevar moves his hands
to control Juno’s and Rex’s body to make them go into a coffin. “You will stay
in here until you at least learn to like each other. That is the only way this
coffin will break open unless you want to wait for your other parents to find
you, but by then, the Notte kingdom will be undead. I do hope you learn to love
each other soon.”
The coffin closes on Rex and Juno
as they’re now stuck in a cramped coffin just as they were when they came back
to life.
