The Mana Wars

[Maha1930]

Lucius's ears perked up as he heard a noise down the hall. "You buddy you here something?" Lucius nodded, trying to get up but failing miserably. "Lu, just sit tight, I'll find out what's making that sound the easy way, just watch." Vex cleared his throat.

"HELLOOOO?! Is anyone there?!"  

[Ashley_Winston]

Jessie heard Vex yell and jumped up and yelled," Vex! It's me Jessie! Are you ok? How's Lucius? I saw him get hit. And they also took my sword, I can't get out!" She looked down the hall where Vex's voice came from and in the far distance could see Vex at the bars in his cell.

"I see you. Look to your left, I'm waving an arm through the bars!" She yells as she is waving her arm back and forth to get Vex's attention.  

[Maha1930]

"Oh Jessie it's you...I mean, well-uh Lucius is hurt, I bandaged him up with what I could of my own clothes, but I'm going to need to heal him soon, he's badly wounded. Looks like we're stuck here for awhile. Oh joy...." Vex said kicking at the bars.  

[Ashley_Winston]

Jessie made a disgusted face at his remark. "What do you mean by, 'Oh Jessie it's just you'? What, you think this is my fault? Well listen up and listen good. Just cause I conveniently show up at the same place same time with the same plan doesn't mean I am in alliance with the Emperor!" Jessie thought about it. "Thinking about that, if the situation was switched, me being you and you being me, I would probably think the same thing. But think about it yourself."  

[Maha1930]

"Blah, blah, blah, don't get all high and mighty with me princess, I'm just as ticked off with this whole situation as you are!" Vex yelled back starting to rummage around in his boot for something.  

[Ashley_Winston]

"Princess?" Jessie was gonna fight back in disapproval but decided this wasn't the time and place. Then she looked back over at him and saw him digging in his boot. "Ok that's just gross."  

[Maha1930]

Vex brushed her comment aside, digging deeper into his boot. "Ah!" He pulled out a safety pin. "My trusty little lock pick!" He pressed his head up against the bars of the prison so he could at least see where the lock was. Then he reached the hand with the pick around, feeling around. He listened for a click then pushed the bars. The door swung open. "Sweet!" Vex went back and helping Lucius up, walked out of the cell and past Jessie's. "Bye Jessie! It was nice meeting you." He winked at her and waved sarcastically.  

[Ashley_Winston]

"You're kidding right? Please let me out." Jessie pleaded, but Vex just kept going and leaves her there. "Great now I'm vulture food." Jessie tried making a joke about it. She walked over to the wall parallel from the bars and sat in the dirt.

A Few hours later, four guards and one elite guard comes down and brings her out. They bring her up to the grand hall in the palace to the emperor.

Emperor: "This girl has committed crime of murder. She will pay for those deaths with her own life. And for trying to assassinate me, her death will be of a horrid challenge which will begin tomorrow. Bring her to a room and give her the necessities and her sword. Block the door and don't let her out till I call you men tomorrow morning."

The guards bow and grab Jessie's arms bringing her up the grand staircase to an empty floor with one room. They threw her in there with her stuff and locked the door behind them. Jessie takes in the room and admires how it looks like an antique doll house room.

"Ok, so tomorrow either way I know I'll end up dead. I'll just go along with what ever he is going to put me through and after that....Why does he want me to prepare? Oh well. I'll just get some sleep." Jessie walked over to the bed and tried to fall asleep, but kept worrying about tomorrow and thinking why the hell Vex would do that.  

[Maha1930]

Vex grunted as he fed Lucius the soldier pill he managed to acquire from the soldier armory. Lucius ate it rather quick and already feeling the effects, stood up on his own. Soldier Pills were made out of special proteins manufactured with traces of mana, for use in battle. It was mainly used as a healing substance, so that soldiers could continue fighting. Since Lucius's body mass index was much smaller compared to that of a human, the manufactured mana in the pill had a much greater healing effect.

"Good boy," replied Vex. "You'll be fighting again in no time. Now, all we have to do is find our weapons." Lucius whimpered. "Oh, please don't tell me you're upset that we left that girl behind? She was only going to slow us down. Haven't I taught you better than that? The only people we can rely on in the end, is ourselves." Lucius seemed to understand what Vex was trying to say since he replied with a firm nod of the head.

"Now, I figure our weapons should be around here somewhere, I mean this is basically the soldiers locker room, and the emperor could give two shits about our weapons so they got to be in here." The two of them explored the empty locker room which seemed big enough to encompass the entire palace itself. Then Vex spotted his gloves stuffed in a nearby locker. "Those dicks! They just take my equipment as if it's a token of my defeat! Screw them!" Vex stomped over and snatched his gloves back, putting them back on. Lucius nudged his leg.

"Don't you worry Lucius, I'm sure your stuff is around here somewhere. And my coat! Lucius! They still have my favorite coat! I bet that damned Emperor took that as a token of my defeat for sure! It gets chilly outside without my coat! Whatever, let's wander around with me being shirtless until we can find it. I'm sure the guys will benefit from seeing a hunk like me lurking around eh Lu?" Lucius rolled his eyes in response to Vex's last comment.

After awhile the two got a hold of Lucius's pouch and Satchel with dagger....with only a couple kills between them. With still no sign of Vex's coat, they left the locker room behind them. They overheard two guards talking in the hall as they passed by the exit.

"You hear what they did with that chick that tried to assasinate the emperor?" One said.

"No, what?" The other guard replied.

"They locked her up in the highest room in the palace."

"Wait..but isn't that where?"

"Yep." But the two guards went further down the hall and around a corner, leaving Vex and Lucius to decipher what was just heard.

"Oh great," Vex sighed. "That damned girl has gotten herself in trouble...again! It's only been two hours. Well, let's go then." But Lucius tugged at his pant leg. "No Lucius, we have to go." Lucius growled and bit into Vex's leg, not letting go. "Dude let go!" Vex knew that the only way he was going to let go of his leg, was if he saved Jessie. "I'm dreading of what I'm going to say next but....Lucius, let's go get Jessie." Lucius let go, wagging his tail. "Honestly, you always have to go for the chicks. Why couldn't you be gay like me?"

And the two of them headed off in the direction of the upper level.  

[Ashley_Winston]

Jessie woke up in the middle of the night after an explosion outside. She jumped out of bed and rushed to the window. "Oh great. An invasion has begun. Bombs exploding, gun firing and spells being casted." She leaned against the window staring at the chaos below. She saw people running for their lives then being zapped into nothing. Besides that the only question was, who is going through with a stupid invasion?

Jessie sighed thinking about how she got into this mess. "I should've never left home. It would've been better if i stayed there and let people here deal with it. Especially Vex and Lucius. They're better off with out me anyway."

She sat on the edge of her bed. Then something hit her giving her an idea. She got a bunch of sheets and blankets together and tied end to end. Jessie grabbed one end and tied it to a bed leg. Then she tossed the other end out the window and was about to climb out when she heard a bunch of loud noises right outside her door. She jumped off the window and ran to the door putting her ear up to it to hear what the hell was going on.  

[Maha1930]

"Hi-ya!" Vex spun around smacking the helmet off one of the guards stationed outside the uppermost room, causing him to hurtle into the door, bursting it open. Lucius and Vex surveyed the room, but all that they could make out was a very surprised Jessie. Lucius ran over to her immediately, lapping her face up with his rather large tongue.  

[Ashley_Winston]

Jessie laughs and gets on her knees and hugs Lucius. " I thought you guys left?" She said looking at Vex. "Why did you come back?" Jessie sat on the floor, petting Lucius.  

[Maha1930]

Vex laughed. "Oh, don't flatter yourself girl. I didn't come back for you, Lucius..er..missed you I guess." Lucius ears perked up as metal footsteps were clanging up the steps nearby. "s**t, Jessie, I'm hoping you have an escape plan?"  

[Ashley_Winston]

"Awww, well thank you Lucius." She said patting Lucius's head and then stood up. "As a matter of fact I do! It's stupid, but it'll get us away from them." She ran over to the window and pointed down. "Just climb down using the 'rope' I made." She got on and started making her way down.  

[Maha1930]

Vex called down to Jessie as she meandered her way down the makeshift rope. "You're kidding right?!" But the sound of the soldiers footsteps were getting louder and louder and Vex really wasn't in the mood to get captured again. "Yo Lu, climb on my back. As agile as you are, you really can't grip that rope with your paws." Lucius complied, rather reluctantly the two started making their way down the rope. "Jeez buddy, you need to loose some weight!" Lucius growled at Vex, digging his claws into his bare skin. "Ah! Okay, okay!" It took Vex another moment to realize that they had just left without his favorite trench-coat.

"Jessie! We have to go back! They have my trench-" But before he could finish the sentence their escape route was cut off. Literally. They fell about twelve stories into a fountain below in the palace gardens. The soldiers, while seeming to want to kill them, had actually aided in their escape.