Alright, Part Seven is here, after about a week. Feels like just yesterday when I didn’t know what or how I wanted to write, and yet, here I am, with three series currently running and a fourth one on the way, eight parts into my original series. I’d like to thank Foxburton, for giving me suggestions on how to write and patiently reading my stories, Azid, for showing me that dark stories can be good ones, and to Kell Of Scar, for (inadvertently) giving me the idea for the House of Scar. Now, let us begin. The dreg walks up to the throne, turned with its back facing the entrance. It kneels and says “My Kell. We have found Scarkis again. He works with a Shal’r. I crawled from the wreck of a burning Skiff, and told him that you would make him suffer. He looked at me and said “Bring it.” What shall we do?” the massive figure on the throne extends a silver hand. Not like the crude mechanical arms built by those such as Taniks The Scarred, but almost like a real one. It flexes and curls into a fist. “A pity. I gave him a chance. We’ll have to do something about him” The throne spins around, revealing Gravis, Kell of Kings. She gestures for him to come closer and she said “Bring out Shade for me, will you? I’m sure he’s simply DYING to do something.” the dreg nods and scampers off. Afraid, the dreg creeps over to the cave. Unlocking the door, he says “Shade? Her Cleverness wishes to speak with you.” a pair of glowing eyes bob up and down in response and a large figure slowly creeps out of the cave, swaying like a praying mantis. The dreg shivers as the completely black monster walks past him, ignoring the small dreg and looking like a dog on the hunt. Shade used to be a captain, with incredible skill and strength, that fought in the battle of twolight gap. When his mate was killed and his vocal chords nearly severed by a blade, he swore revenge against the city. Gravis offered him that chance of revenge - she saved him, and fed him up with ether until he was the size of an archon. She knew his skill but also knew how headstrong he was, so when she broke him and hardened him into a deadly warrior, she made him into her monster. Her assassin - her attack dog. Shade stands before Gravis as she says “So, my loyal servant, I wish you to do another favor. You still owe me after I saved your life at the battle of the Three Houses. Do you remember Scar?” the assassin growls. He remembers the young kell - so free, so optimistic, hoping for the future. “I’d like you to say hello to him for me.” She stands up and quickly cleared the ground between them. “End his life for me, would you? A gift from the Kell of Kings, his old friend.” she says sweetly. The assassin walks away, not giving any sign that he hears her, and walks off. The Kell turns her throne back around and says “Well, Meksis, wasn’t that easy? The road to peace - one dead traitor at a time.” Meanwhile, in the ruins of old Russia, Scarkis tracks the hive. He thinks of the direction that the abomination went, and follows the course that it had followed after it had fought him and Toros. He sniffs the air. It smells like hive - their stench of death and decay reeks, and he can smell that here. He sees a large, cavernous opening in the ground and thought Bingo. He walks in, intent on tracking the whereabouts of the hive, and sees signs that they had been there. He sees claw marks from the thrall, scrapes and scratches from Knights sharpening their swords, and he sees signs of IT. The abomination. A set of massive footprints stand out in the dust. It was here - this has to be the hoard that was following it. He sees a set of claw marks on the stone - three, to be exact. The hive have no three bladed weapons, and no other blade could have made marks like that. He hears a scream and turns as a thrall LEAPS onto his back. He thrashes as it digs it’s claws into his skin, screeching all the while. An acolyte comes out of the darkness and opens fire on him with it’s shredder. [i]They set a trap[/i], he thinks. [i]It knew that I was following it.[/i] He gets a grip on the thrall with his hand and manages to throw it off of him as more Hive come out from the shadows. A large knight commands them, bellowing commands and pointing at him with its sword. Another thrall leaps at him, he kicks it, and it disintegrates into greasy ash. He pulls out his shrapnel launcher and opens fire on the hive. He brings done two more thrall, and a trio of acolytes attempting to sneak up from behind him. The knight roars and charges him. He crushes another thrall as it slams into him - the knight, driving him back, delivering crushing blows with it’s sword. Scar blasts it with his launcher and draws one shock blade. His shock blade clashes against the honed cleaver of the knight as the two of them do battle. The knight roars and tries to outmuscle him again, but the rising kell disarms it, and hews one arm off in a one-handed swing with his shock blade. Scar grabs the knight with both hands and lifts it up. He swings the knight over his head and throws it against the ground. Part of it’s armor cracks and falls apart, and as it tries to rise Scar stomps on it with all of his might. It’s body breaks and it’s armor clanks against the ground as it disintegrates into a pile of hive ash. Scarkis lets out a victorious roar and then winces. The knight cut through his armor and almost to the bone. He slumps over as he hears the sound of more hive shrieks. Then, he sees it. The wizard drifts like a shadow towards him and raises a bony hand. A dozen thrall come behind it and it screams out. The hoard charges towards Scar as he winces again, standing on his injured leg, and prepares to fight again.The thrall pile on top of him, one crawling onto his back, another onto his knee, several trying to pull down on his legs, while the wizards laughs and blasts away with her Arc attacks. Suddenly, Scar has an idea, and he stops moving. The wizard stares, puzzled, as Scar drops to the ground and rolls, crushing the screeching thrall underneath his bulk into fine ash. The wizard shrieks and summons another volley of Arc, trying to blast him, but he manages to dodge most of the blasts and charges forwards, bloodlusted. He hits the wizard with a headbutt that throws it against the wall, letting off a meaty thump, sounding almost like a dishrag hitting a stone floor. She dodges a devastating haymaker and lets loose a cloud of Toxic gas, laughing again. Scar wheezes and, purely on instinct, lifts his shock blade and throws it. The wizard stops laughing as the massive blade cuts through her neck, severing it, and making the body of the wizard hit the ground with a muffled *whump* as it disintegrates into a pile of ash. Scar falls on the floor, exhausted. As he starts to fall asleep, he sees a figure standing over him, and- The world goes dark. Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode of Of Eliksni And Ether. It was certainly action packed and I hope you like the idea of a female kell, that nobody seems to have used before. Many important characters were introduced and many plot threads set up. Don’t worry, Shade and Scar’ll have a showdown, and trust me, it will be epic. If you so desire, feel free to leave some feedback/criticism in the comments below, and tell me how you liked it!