GUNZ: The Fiery Lotus Part1 
Reply With QuoteWhen the firestorm ended, Senvae peeked hastily towards his opponents. They had moved out, probably looking to flank him. Few choices were left to him now, outnumbered five to one, he was most likely going to be flanked whether he liked it or not. So he took the initiative and drew his Gold Hound brand revolvers, dashing for the right side of the church in hope to clip off two of them summarily. But he had to act quickly since his Gold Hounds, grotesquely large six-shooters with rectangle heavy-duty barrels as long as his forearm, would divulge his location to the others with its cannon sound. Time of the essence, he took a running start and scaled the wall in a mad dash. As he came behind the first marble pillar, he found the first target. The young man in a brown coat had not seen this coming. Senvae was running higher on the wall than his line of sight. Firing one shot from his silver cannon, the man’s brains splattered all over the hard marble floor as the lifeless body tumbled from the Gold Hound’s force. The second enemy came out after hearing the gunshot but it was too late. Senvae was already jumping for him with his sword high above his head. The slash came down swift and steady, opening a gash along the forearm that held the shotgun. In adrenaline to save his life, the enemy tried to pull out a dagger with his free hand, though it was met with the Travian’s quick steel. Both arms wounded, the helpless opponent’s head was lopped off, all in a quick second.
Having heard the thunder from the massive revolvers, the other Axium knights fired wildly for him, though Senvae was already running out towards the north end of the church. Most bullets hit marble and stone, trying to catch up his movement, but a lucky one found its way into his right leg. The Travian fighter came down hard on the solid floor. The impact shook him and knocked the breath from him, but the adrenaline of battle allowed him to roll behind a mainstay, out of gun sight. Damn! Now this could get complicated, he thought as he caught his breath. At that moment, the sound of glass breaking was heard on the west side, and then guns blazed through the echoing church hall. He took a quick glance behind his safe pillar and witnessed a queer sight. Athyanas had burst through the tall stained-glass windows, firing her revolvers, jumping off the walls, swinging her kodachis. That’s a sight for sore eyes, an Axium Knight fighting other Axium Knights, he thought. However his moment of thought was broken as he saw his brother dash towards the altar. Senvae hopped on his good leg, leaning on the pillar for support, and then he took a well-aimed shot at Brandon’s right leg. He saw his brother go down between the wooden benches and lost sight of him.
“Brandon!” He called to him aloud. His call was answered with a storm of gunfire from his little brother’s semi-auto pistols. Senvae quickly rolled behind the marble column for protection, but it was not needed. The bullets sprayed blindly, hitting sundry objects, only a few hit the marble mast he used a shield. He must be wounded taking desperate shots like that, Senvae pondered. When the sound of the semi-auto pistols stopped, Senvae peeked at the battle between the Axium Knights. They were too busy to pay him mind so he rolled off the pillar and advanced towards Brandon, limping from his wound. Brandon struggled rising on his one leg, desperate to face his big brother face to face. Senvae lifted his heavy revolver and pointed it to the gun priest’s head, point blank.
“C’mon brother,” Brandon pleaded to him, “You’re not going to kill your own blood are you?” He was sweating profusely from the tension of the situation and the painful wound. In the instant, Senvae had to ponder deeply before pulling the trigger. He took care of his little brother after the father’s death, like his own son. However this act of treason was unforgivable. Furthermore, the image of Ryker was coming back to him. The man he refused to kill so long ago, the young traitorous clansman. He couldn’t bring himself to execute his brother the way he failed to accomplish for a stranger. Senvae closed his eyes and searched his feelings. All sound ceased to exist around him, even the gunfight behind him between the Knights. The fleeting second felt like a lifetime to him.
The silence broke like porcelain, as the thunderous sound of a gunshot ripped through the air. He opened his eyes and saw his brother collapse to the floor, but the wound was just above his ear and not on the forehead. Athyanas stood beside Brandon’s lifeless body, her Iron Crow revolver still smoking in the cool air. She glanced at Senvae in a compassionate smile.
“Trust me, you don’t want to live with that on your conscience, not your own blood.” She said to him. He answered with a courteous nod, but he was still shocked from the whole ordeal.
They walked out together in the sunrise kissed night sky, bathing in the dark blue light. Senvae looked at Athyanas, the woman fell into a new light by his eyes after the battle. This reputed Axium Knight had fought and killed her own kind to save the life of a Travian fighter. Athyanas must have seen the inquiring tone in his visage for she spoke first.
“I asked about your pal Ryker and never got an answer.” She said. Senvae was a bit too staggered to answer right away, but she continued nonetheless. “I got my answer already. I’ve seen what you are and aren’t capable of. Quite frankly, it's what I expected. That’s why I shadowed you for a month, to be certain…” she reached for a pocket in her jacket and held out the gun that Brandon held at his death, pointing upwards still loaded.
“Very few people have it in them to follow an ideal.” She explained. “It takes tremendous will power to resist the corruption, or simply to quit out of fear, sometimes frustration. My clan is an idealistic power, making it brittle to strangers. Most people would act interested in our ideas simply to infiltrate and bring us down from the inside. But you have the will and the wish to stop this war. That is why you never pulled the trigger at Ryker, and that is why you wouldn’t have pulled it back there. Sadly, this behavior is not hereditary.” She pulled on the barrel of Brandon’s gun and released a single bullet left in the chamber. Senvae gawked at the 9mm shell falling to the ground, an object that signified his brother’s intent to kill him after pleading for his life. Brandon’s blind spray of bullets had been a clever ploy to have his brother come to him with his guards down. He would have shot me the second I turned my back, he thought. To think that his own blood would be so disgraceful was too much for his to bear.
“See, the world we live in is guarded by homeostasis. It is a principle that all things on earth are balanced and tends to stay that way. There is only light because of darkness, only truth because of lies. Peace will reign again, but before that there must be a war. We must be prepared to do what is necessary to achieve this peace.” She stopped to let her words weight in to the Travian. Senvae raised an intrigued eyebrow at her pretty speech.
“Who are you?” he asked her.
“I am…, my clan and I are the pivot, the balance, the light over our darkness. We are those who fight in the shadow so day will come again.” She gave him a smug look to that notion, waiting for a reaction. He was more than flabbergasted to this point, so silence was all she got from him.
“You need some time to think this through, I know, but I would like to meet with you again soon and talk.” She said while flipping a card between her nimble fingers. She handed the business card to him. “I wrote the time and place on the back” She started to walk down the stairs, leaving him a courteous bow before deserting the scene.
Senvae looked at the card bemused by what he saw. The title on the card said: The Fiery Lotus Clan. It had a sigil and an aphorism on it: The shinning blade against the darkened sky
. Aw well, I already started my own little world. But I do like what I started and might very well continue if I get more positive feedback. If enough people are interested in reading more, it would be motivating for writing a part 2 and beyond. 
