End of Days

....Samuel, Kyle and Joshua stood back to back in the vast expanse of dust and sand. On the ground lay the bodiless suits of armor which they had just brought down. Slowly, they too disintergrated and were blown away to become one with the sandy ground.

Samuel: Well that takes care of those things.

Kyle: What the heck were they anyway?

Joshua: Possesed suits of armor or something.

Kyle moved a few steps forward and prodded the black helmet with the blade of his basket hilt broadsword. Upon touch, it shattered into many tiny shards. They slipped off the blade like dewdrops off a waxy leaf. It was nothing like what he had ever seen before. He shook his head and looked up. All around them was a big sandstorm. Visibility was negligible beyond the small circle which they stood in.

Joshua: Now what? How the heck are we going to get back Samuel?

Samuel: We've called the Guardians already. They should've been here before we even fought those damn things.

Kyle: I don't even think they can find us in this storm right now. Look. (Cuts the air several times with his sword) See these scratches?

He held up his sword and the previously shiny blade was now covered with unsightly scratches made by the grains of sand being tossed about by the wind.

Josh: Geez. So we're stuck here? You mean there's no way back?

Kyle: It doesn't look like it.

Samuel: ...We came here looking for Orion and now we're stuck. In this desert.

The three of them sat there as the sand continued to swirl around and around. A faint beeping noise rang out amidst the wails of the wind. It was Joshua's communicator.

Joshua: Hey guys, i got a message coming in.

Joshua flipped open the clamshell device and a blurry message was shown on the screen. It was the leader of the Guardian team. Bruce Granger.

Bruce: Joshua, we are terribly sorry. We can't get to you. Orion has created some sort of sandstorm within the whole desert. We fear that there isn't a way out, much less a way in. His minions are circling the desert in extremely large numbers, and are heading straight in your direction. The three of you won't stand a chance....At this point, i don't know what to say...except...may God be with you at this moment. (Screen fuses out)

The three of them stood silent for a minute or two. Joshua swayed on the spot. He dropped his saber and fell to his knees beside it.

Josh: How can this be the end?

He raked the sandy ground with his bruised hands and scattered the sand in front of him.

Josh: We're just going to die like this?

He turned to Samuel and Kyle, hoping that at least they would have some hopeful words to share with him But Samuel just sat on the ground with his chin on his fist as Kyle stood up with his head down.

Samuel: I knew we'd die young. But i didn't think it'd be this early.

Kyle: What a way to go. I guess this is the price to pay for living an exciting life.

Just then, a battle horn sounded in the distance. It was faint, but clear. It was the same sound they had heard earlier before those suits of black armor attacked them. Thunderous clangs of metal on metal could be heard as well along with the rumbling of the ground as the minions drew closer.

Kyle: They'll be here soon.

Joshua: (Brings himself to his feet) Wouldn't it be better if we all just lay down? We don't even stand a chance. Theres probably thousands of them out there...

Samuel: I guess that would be one way of dying today. But there are many more favourable options.

The rumbling became heavier and louder as Kyle tightened his grip around the handle of his sword.

Joshua: You know, I can remember how the sunlight felt on my back after school ended on fridays. How we would run all the way from the gates to Staple field..Or how we'd all leap for joy when the recess bell rings. How the food at the canteen tastes....But now, we're all the way in some distant land about to meet our demise. Never too see those things again. We're so far away from that..

Samuel: Remember how we used to run around Fujiwara mall everytime we had to stay back in school? (Laughs) Or how we'd just sit on the grass in the school field, all of us, and watch the clouds take shape on that blue background.

Kyle: I miss our friends. I miss Nydia...I miss her green eyes, her smile, her indomitable spirit....her touch...

Joshua: I miss Kate...i miss the way she'd tell me that everything would be fine. I miss the way she made everything seem so right...

Samuel: ....I guess...I miss Tami as well. Her simplicity, the way she makes the world seem so easy to understand...the way she is so different from the way I am...

They were silent again. The noises grew louder. The wailing of the wind, the battle horns, the sound of metallic clangs and the rumbling marching of the minions. It all seemed too much to take it at once. But it all appeared to fade out into the background as Kyle said something that made the two of them flinch.

Kyle: I'm not laying down today.

Joshua: What?

Kyle: I'm not just going to sit here and die like a fish in a barrel.

Samuel: Hmm....

Joshua: What are you going to do then?

Kyle: I'm going to go out there and fight!

Samuel: There are thousands of them Kyle...

Kyle: Since when did numbers ever mean anything.

Joshua: When there are a thousand swords to one.

Kyle: It doesn't matter right now. What have we got to lose? We sit here, we die and never get to see tomorrow, we fight, we at least get a shadow of a chance.

Samuel: He's right Joshua. No matter how foolish it is too charge against a few thousand well armed soldiers.

Joshua: But...

Kyle: My Grandfather told me something once. A knight that rides into battle against a horde of dragons may not survive. But when he takes up the courage to take those steps to face his doom, he is a king for that moment.

Samuel: Inspiring..

Joshua shook his head and looked away for a second. He looked back at Kyle and Samuel's faces. They were not the faces of hopelessness but the faces of determination and readiness. His fear and distress released their hold on him for at least that moment as he picked up his saber and smiled at the two of them.

Joshua: If we die, it'll be an honor to die alongside the two of you.

Kyle: Come now (Pats Joshua on the shoulder) Let us take our stand.

Samuel: (Unsheathes his katana) Kings for a moment....I'll take that.

The three gripped their swords tightly and nodded to each other. This was their stand against the odds. They bounded straight into the dusty abyss with their cloaks shielding them from the onslaught of the sand grains. And as the wind wailed and the battle horns blasted, the three figures dissapeared into the blurry beyond, to fight once again....

A snippet from "End of days" from the pages of the unfinished series, "Youngbloods"


-Kyle