The Tale of Two Lights

chapter 4: signs of victory.
The King sat in his chair frustrated. There were three of his royal guard before him and no one could give him information on the rebels. 
His hair had turned grey and he had let his beard grow. His wife was still locked beneath the castle and his son was forced to train everyday with members of the royal guard. Due to his harsh punishments and his 180 turn the people had deemed him to have gone mad. They say the catalyst was the death of his other son. Ever since the king has been on a spree of crazy harsh actions towards his own kingdom. However, few chose to do something about it. It had been half a year since the incident that left Westshire as hellish landscape. Before him were his top four members of the royal guard. Ace who wore his fully fixed armor. Queen, who wore a yellow set of armor with pink striped all around. Her chest piece  had the symbol of the queen of hearts. King, who wore a simple golden set of armor with the symbol of the king of diamonds in his chest piece. Lastly was Jack, who had a fully black set of armor with golden and blue stripes all around. His symbol was the Jack of clubs. All four of them bowed to the king as he screamed at them.
"You should be ashamed to bear the name of the four Admirals of the royal guard. Truly, remarkable how none of you could get even a lick of information on our enemies."
"My King," said Ace. "They have gone silent ever since westshire. Perhaps they have learned that its useless to oppose you."
"Do not underestimate those traitors. Look at what happened to you. You messed around too much and ended up with multiple burn marks across your body. Do you fools need to loose an arm or a leg to understand who we are dealing with?"
The King stood up and said.
"I want you to go to your designated sector and report anything, no matter how insignificant it may be, about this rebellion."
...
In a small hut near where westshire used to be, Francis was out training with the kids. Catherine sat in the kitchen of the hut as she had been doing for six months now. Wondering what could have been. She was stuck here. Ever since the rebellion branched into the north and east her and Francis were left in the west base to recruit anyone they could. They had been awaiting orders for three months now. Her daughter had just manifested her magical aura. Francis would eventually help her out to find what kinds of magical ability she possesses. Be it elemental, animal, or even, special. She hoped that Sera could quickly get her powers so she could defend herself.
She then saw as a pigeon came flying in. It was the special carrier pigeon Francis had been using to communicate with the east base. She opened a letter and began to laugh. She stood up and went to look for Francis.
...
Out in the woods Sera and Sam were sparing with Francis. They were both tired while Francis hadn't even broken a sweat.
" It's only been an hour. You will never fully awaken your powers if you do not push yourselves even more!" he said.
Before they continued  they saw Catherine running towards them.  
"Cat, whats happening?" asked Francis. 
"Our first orders in a while." She said. "Bartholomew says things are ready on his side. He said that a shipment will be coming by soon. It will be heavily guarded and we need to steal it."
"What is it?" 
Catherine smiled and said. 
"One of the holy crystals. They are going to pass through by one of the villages nearby in around a week. They are said to have a member of the sub captains of the royal guard."
"Great," said Francis. he turned to the kids and said. "Go get ready. This will be your first mission. Do not disappoint me."
The kids cheered and ran back to the hut in excitement.
"You're gonna love what they have in store." Said Francis. "They've got the potential to win this entire shitstorm we are in  by themselves."
...
"Your father loves you." 
Alexander was caught off guard as his mother suddenly said that. He was spending his free time with her in the dungeon of the castle. Every day ever since she was imprisoned he would visit her. The guards never told the king in order to keep this pair of mother and child together. 
"Never doubt that, Alex. Everything he does is for your benefit."
They were sitting apart from each other. Only thing separating them was the bars of the cell. 
"Still, every day he grows colder and further away. Its like he is someone else." he said.
"That may be, but he still loves you. Even if he doesn't make it clear. Don't grow to hate him."
The two sat there in silence as Alex reflected. 
"I hear you have your first mission." Said the queen.
"Yea, I'm to go to a village in the west to pick up a holy crystal." 
"Watch out, those crystals are very powerful. Someone is bound to show up to try and steal it."
"Don't worry, I've trained for a long time. I've got the base of my powers under control now."
"Good, now do a good job so you can impress your father. Don't have any mercy to any enemies that show up. If you do then your father may punish you for it. Don't disappoint him."
...
In a nearby forest, the group of Francis, Catherine, Sam, and Sera looked as a group of knights gathered at the entrance of the nearby town, where the crystal would be delivered. 
"Something is off." said Francis. "No one is there to get the crystal just some soldiers."
"I thought you said some captains were supposed to get it." said Catherine.
Francis and Catherine grabbed Sam and Sera and quickly jumped out of the way of a giant bolt of lighting that stroke where they were waiting.
Then, in an instant, they jumped again into the open field between the woods and the town.  After landing safely they put the kids down. 
"Kids, remember what we practiced. If you don't you could die here." said Francis.
Sam and Sera saw as two people stepped out of the woods. One was the young prince himself in a set of blue and gold armor with the head of a chimera in the center of his chest-plate. The other was a woman who wore a yellow set of armor with pink stripes and at the center was the queen of hearts.
"What a shame. To think this is what would become of the "master swordsman" and the "fire goddess". You've been reduced to nothing but a couple of thieves." She said
"Nice to see you too Barbara." said Catherine. 
"You a baby sitter now, Babs?" mocked Francis. 
"The young prince asked to come. Besides, I am sure he alone could take you two." said Barbara. "But where is the fun in that? My prince, why don't you play with those two kids." 
"Can I kill them?" asked Alex.
"Yes, but why not enjoy torturing them?"
Catherine then threw a fireball at the prince in anger. The prince dodged and began to walk towards the other kids. Before Francis and Francis could rush to help them Barbara quickly got in the way and began to fight by throwing lighting bolts at the two. Francis made two swords appear in his hands and both him and Catherine were ready to fight. 
However, although they were skilled and experienced the children were not. This was their first fight. They were struggling to dodge light bullets that the prince was shooting from his fingers. They made clean holes into the ground and into the trees that got in their way. He was shooting them slowly and yet Sam and Sera were trying their hardest to not get hit. 
"This is too boring. You two are no fun. I'll just kill you both slowly to have bit of fun."
He then shoots Sera in the leg. She fell over and he shot her other leg to make sure she didn't stand up. She began to cry for help and Sam tried to rush at Alex but he was punched in the face and then kicked away. 
"You'll have your turn." said Alex. 
Alex then shot her in her hands and finally in the heart. She began to gasp for air and began to panic. 
"You have around a minute or so before you pass out. Three or four before you die." said Alex. 
Alex began to walk away and towards Sam who was getting back up. However, before he could shoot he was knocked down by Sera who gathered enough strength to kick him down. 
Alex got up and angrily began to shoot at Sera over and over again.
Catherine saw this and screamed for her little girl. However, this gave an opening to Barbara and she threw a lighting bolt at her. It was enough to make her pass out. Now it was just Francis and Sam. However, unlike Sera, Sam had shown no sign of his magical aura. It looked like he could not use any.
Alex kept shooting Sera until Sam kicked punched him in the face and made him fall over.
"Don't worry, You'll be next." Before Alex shot at him he froze.
Francis and Barbara stopped fighting and both stared at the kids.
"What is happening?" thought Barbara. "It almost feels like when we have an audience with the king. This feeling is unmistakable."
Alex panicked and began to shoot at Sam while he walked towards him. However, none of his shots were landing.
Francis began to think of what Bartholomew said after he fought the king. 
" ...it seemed like he knew where every one of my attacks would go. It looked like he could dodge any attack I sent at him no matter how fast it was. All while it felt like I was carrying a million pounds on each shoulder."
Sam kept dodging the magical bullets perfectly. Like he knew where they would come. Then, Sam got close enough to land a punch strong enough to knock out the young prince.
"My Prince!" screamed out Barbara. In a literal flash she went to catch Alex before he fell over. "Unlucky for you, our other captains already retrieved the crystal as we fought. Also, once the king hears about this he will hunt you down. I will be sure to be there when he finds you."
Then, in a flash she vanished with the prince. Francis woke up Catherine and she ran towards Sera to see if she was alive. When she got there she saw that she was just asleep. Her wounds were healed perfectly. Sera woke up and Catherine hugged her.
"How are you alive?" she asked. "I saw you get shot."
Francis interrupted the moment and said. 
"I'll explain it on the way back. We must leave quickly, before they send a search party. "
...
Hours later Barbara met with the king after she had returned and put the prince in the infirmary. She kneeling before the king who sat in his throne. He had been silent after hearing Barbara's mission report. She was nervous in the silent. She felt the same as when she saw Sam. 
"Like me, you say?" asked the king. 
"Y-yes, my lord. It was a feeling that I cannot confuse. It felt as if I was standing before you." she said nervously.
"Well clearly you did. Stand up, Queen of Hearts."
She stood up and was paralyzed in fear as she saw the king stand up from his throne. He was wearing a blue and gold royal cape and a silver armor under it. His eyes almost glowed in the poorly lit room as they stared down Barbara. He began to move forward. The closer he got the more intense the sensation was for Barbara. She began to get dizzy and could barely stand. Once he got right up in front of her she fell down in one knee and began to hyperventilate. She began to shiver, as if standing within a blizzard without any clothes. She looked up at the king and felt as if she faced a strong fearsome beast that was about to kill her. The pressure she felt was as if she was within the jaws of said monster and its teeth were trying to crush her.
"So," asked the King. "was it something like this?"
Barbara shook her head and said.
"N-no, my lord! I was mistaken. No child, man, or beast could ever match this. They could never even approach you in any way shape or form."
"Good." said the king.
He began to walk back to his throne and the pressure was suddenly relieved from Barbara. She began to calm down and let out a sigh of relief that it was finally over. She kept kneeling before the king and said.
"What will we do about this child?" 
" Are you aware of my power?" asked the King.
"Yes, although in the public it is said that you have no magical powers the truth, only known by the Royal Guard, is that you have a power to overpower all others. The specifics of said powers are not known by anyone except for yourself, and the head of the Royal Guard, the queen."
"Yes, that is all you should know. However, if some kid out there is running around with a power similar to mine then we will have a lot of trouble. Especially if he is on the side of those traitors. Call the other members of the Royal Guard. Meet with my wife down in the dungeon. Ask her about operation J. She will give you your orders."
Barbara then stood up and ran to go find her teammates. The King slammed his fist in anger and began to wonder. 
"If all goes according to plan then we won't have any problems with these rebels. But this kid alone could shift the tides in their favor if they can figure out his powers." He thought. "I just hope the Guard can figure this out. I'd hate to deal with this personally."
...
The next day Francis woke everyone in the small hut up. 
"What's happening?" Asked Catherine. "Are we being attacked?" 
"No," said Francis with a smile on his face. "Its a letter from Bartholomew. Its the new plan he has. It will take a long time to complete but if this works then we can, without a doubt, win this war."
"How?" asked Sam. 
"I'll explain later. But we must get ready. We are moving to the south base. Gwen is waiting for us there."
"What will we do there?" asked Sera.
"Prepare our trump card."