Chapter 27: Rocks Begin to Fly ------------------------------ After the incident with Cecil, Sascha and Akfek left and headed towards Vector again. Akfek knew it was not the right time to fetch Kain - especially when another was there to witness the kidnapping. If anyone of them should flee successfully while they ambushed the house, trouble would erupt. As they headed towards Vector, Akfek decided to stop off at Nikeah to *survey* the town. The ship docked a little east of the town, and when Sascha and Akfek departed for the town, the ship's appearance vanished and the view of the open sea existed once more. As they neared the town, two other strangers appeared among the horizon. Sascha felt something strange about the strangers... yes, the feeling was mutual - it was Cecil and Kain. The strangers caught a glimpse of Sascha and Akfek and altered their previous course. Perhaps one of them recognized Sascha? Akfek lifted his hood and covered his head - now only a dark shadow lay across his face - and Sascha altered her image too by letting down her hair so that hair covered half her face. They would arouse suspicion if they detracted from the path so they continued towards Nikeah. The two men drew closer until they were within normal speaking distance. The one named Kain yelled, "Hey, I recognize you. What were you doing in our house?" Sascha replied, "You must be mistaken, sir. I have never seen you before." The one named Cecil glanced at an orb like object and whispered to Kain, "It's as if there's a cloud of some sort that's hindering me from penetrating their true nature. I suspect magic is involved." Kain inquired of Sascha again, "Your face looks too familiar. No, I'm sure it was you who entered the house." Then, Cecil drew his sword and said, "Who are you two? You do not speak the truth and I sense your intentions are not all that well." Akfek knew it was pointless to continue to further conceal their identities. He knew Cecil and Kain would not relent and would follow them until they had revealed his and Sascha's identities. "Ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa. Begone! You have wasted enough of our time and your presence is unwarranted. So be it. You are pests and I will crush you like man who steps on an insect." Akfek's and Sascha's appearance dissapeared into thin air while Cecil and Kain scanned around their locations. Akfek reappeared behind them and two cone-shaped rocks with knife-sharp ends lifted and surged upwards underneath Kain and Cecil. Both flew to the side and evaded the rock which resembled the shape of a stalagmite, and the rock continued to rise. Kain was still rolling along the ground and Cecil was recovering his balance when the ground began to tremble violently. Just as Kain was rising from the ground, he lost his balance from the earthly tremble, but Cecil was barely able to stand. Cecil adjusted to the shaking and streaked clumsily towards Akfek with his sword gripped in his hand. He swung his sword at Akfek but as the sword approached Akfek, Akfek's image disappeared. The sword continued its path, but the target had vanished. Kain had moved over to the huge cone-shaped rock, pulled himself up upon a jagged edge extruding from the rock, and then jumped up into the sky. Akfek reappeared again but this time, the distance from his counterpart increased. "I shall have fun toying with you," a voice murmured. Cecil dashed towards Akfek again who was standing further away than last time. He fumbled a little due to the trembling but regained his balance and continued his dash. With his sword lifted above his head, he sprinted towards Akfek but this time, a second image of Cecil began to appear. Suddenly, Kain's appearance emerged from the sky and like a falling stone, he pummeled towards Akfek's location. Sascha reappeared, hovering in the air and with a motion of her hand, the gigantic rock resembling a stalagmite discontinued its trek upwards, instead swerving and aiming at Kain. Kain attempted to dodge the cone-shaped rock, but it was too late - the pointed end sliced through the side of Kain's right leg and he dropped like a wounded bird to the ground screaming in pain. "Arrrrrggghhh!" Akfek eyed the falling Dragoon and uttered, "Ha ha ha haaaaa, you scream like a pesky fly!" He lost sight of Cecil who was getting closer through each stride. By the time he turned towards Cecil, there were two Cecils and Akfek decided to cloak himself again. In a quick move, Cecil stopped his dash at Akfek, leapt into the air towards Sascha and swung his sword at the unprepared girl. It was too late for Sascha to cloak herself. She pushed backwards away from the swing but the sword slightly grazed her arm. Sascha grabbed her arm in pain and the blood poured forth. Akfek directed his hand towards the air bound Cecil and the rocks that layed upon the ground flew towards Cecil. At first, Cecil defended himself against flying stones that only gave him minor scratches, but as he hit the ground, more and more stones began to fly towards him. It was as if he was being attacked by a swarm of bees except the bees were heavy stones. Sascha laughed and exclaimed, "You will perish now, oh ancient warrior!" The stones continued to increase in number, and Cecil was bombarded by the flying rocks which came from everywhere.