Part 4: First Impressions

“Well, we’re here… But now what should we do? Can we just… Go over there?” It was getting dark when the twins finally arrived near the entrance to the village. However, there was a large wooden palisade around the whole place, while the only way in or out was a closed wooden gateway.

Salmon Creek Village didn’t used to have any sort of defenses, but it was necessary now that they were being targeted by the Rusty Saber Bandits. Although a small wooden watchtower and a gatehouse wouldn’t be able to stop an army, it could at least soften the enemies up a bit.

Standing at the top of the gate were two middle-aged men holding wooden longbows. On the watchtower, there was an old man and two teenagers with simple crossbows. They were all wearing thick fur clothing, with leather armor overtop. It was obvious that they were expecting to be attacked at any moment.

Torches lit up the walls and buildings all around the town, so that no one would be able to sneak inside. Their biggest fear was that the bandits wouldn’t attack through the front and instead, would utilize deception or stealth tactics.

Yuri glanced around and murmured “Perhaps we should wait within Chessboard World for the night and attempt to enter inconspicuously during the day?”

“Shit!” Azra quickly grabbed his sister and pushed her down onto the ground, as a large arrow stuck into the back of his coat. Fortunately, that was where he was keeping the Divine Chessboard, or he could have died.

“Who are you two? Rusty Saber scouts?” Both of the twins quickly got up off the ground and glared at the giant man that was walking towards them. He had put away his bow and was holding a shiny steel greatsword with his right hand, it only took a few steps for him to get close enough to cut them down with the blade if he needed to.

Azra whispered to his sister, “What should we tell him? Maybe we should just beat him up? He looks kind of strong though… Plus, those archers might start shooting at us if we move out from behind this tree…” He reached around behind his back and pulled out that folded up rectangular piece of brown cardboard.

However, Yuri suddenly pulled down her mask and took off her hood, waving her long black hair around. That huge bearded man squinted his eyes and asked “You’re a woman? Wait, you… Are you from Raijin Village? You look eerily similar to my aunt…”

She nodded and then softly answered “Yes, I am indeed a human female from Raijin Village. My name is Uriel King. My twin brother Azrael and I were captured as infants. We had been living within the underground tunnels to the north of here for our entire lives. When our captor died of old age, we were finally able to escape. Do you wish to interrogate us further?”

After sheathing his greatsword behind his back, he said “I’m sorry for shooting at you earlier. My name is Henry Lucas… Welcome to Salmon Creek Village. Come with me, I need to take you to see someone.”

Even if he was suspicious about them, he felt a strange familiarity with the twins. It was partially due to the fact Yuri looked almost exactly the same as his aunt, but there was also something gnawing at the back of his mind. He unconsciously reached into his right coat pocket and fondled that mysterious artifact, while walking up to the wooden gate.

Part 5: Family

Henry brought the twins to his house and the moment that they his mother saw their faces, she immediately hugged them. Then she started crying and eventually, the giant had to remove her from the two startled ‘kids’.

“Uh, umm… Hi, uh, muh, my name is… Az-Azra? Uh, nah-nice to me-meet you…” Unlike his sister, who seemed totally calm, Azra was barely even able to speak to the middle-aged woman who was sitting across from them.

“My name is Uriel King. However, I prefer the nickname Yuri.”

Joanna took a few minutes to stop crying and eventually yelled “No, those aren’t your real names!” Her son had already reiterated the somewhat dubious story that Yuri had told him and his mother instantly believed that it was true.

“The two of you are my sister’s babies… Timothy and Catherine Angelos! You should quickly forget whatever that evil man brainwashed you into believing!”

She was furious for a while, but she suddenly had a horrified expression on her face. Then she reached over and implored her son “Henry! If it was just me, then I wouldn’t mind dying in order to take a few of those monsters with me… But you can’t let your cousins die too! Look at them! They’re still only just kids! We need to take the two of them with us and leave this place, now! We’re going to be attacked soon… I can feel it! Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, but we should leave now while we still have the chance!”

Before Henry had the chance to say anything, Yuri gazed into his eyes and asked “Have we acquired your trust?”

He furrowed his brows, “What are you talking about? We just met… I don’t even completely believe your story yet. How could I trust you?”

Azra nudged his sister and whispered “What the fuck are you doing? Stop it right now.”

Joanna complained “What is wrong with you Henry! Don’t be so rude! She’s your cousin!”

Yuri abruptly reached into her right pocket and pulled out a reddish-brown totem, placing it onto the middle of the four-person rectangular table. Then she tilted her head to the side and inquired “Do you happen to possess an item similar to this? If you do, then I am willing to purchase it from you.”

“Damn it, Sis!” Azra grumbled as he quickly pulled out the chessboard from inside of his coat. It was the closest thing to a weapon that the two of them had and he was afraid that the giant man would suddenly attack.

However, he didn’t expect that Henry would actually take the wooden pawn out of his pocket and place it on the table.

Part 6: Trust

After a few seconds, Henry smiled and asked “Have the two of you ever met a girl named Sariel? She has blue eyes and blonde hair… When she gave this to me, she said that I should give it to the two ‘Angels of Death’. Hehehe~, I didn’t really think of it before, but now I finally get it. Everyone knows the story of the three Gods of Death, Azrael, Uriel and Sariel. Who are you? Magicians? Witches? Religious fanatics trying to screw with me?!”

He suddenly slammed his fists onto the table and stood up, but his mother immediately scolded “Haven’t they already told us who they are?! It’s your cousins Timothy and Catherine! Can’t you see the resemblance in their faces?!”

Azra nervously muttered “We, we aren’t, we don’t want… We don’t want to fight, okay? We’re actually… Here to, umm, help you guys… You know, with the… Little bandit problem?”

Yuri stood up and abruptly unfastened her thick winter coat, revealing her incredibly pale skin underneath. When she continued to take off the rest of her clothes, Henry yelled “What are you doing?!”

She tilted her head to the side and asked “Would you like to reproduce? I believe that once we have mated enough times, I will be able to raise your trust-level. Once it reaches above a certain threshold, you will be compelled to grant my request.”

Her brother face-palmed, while Henry was just gasping in shock and confusion. However, Joanna jumped up out of her seat and ran over to the naked girl. She turned towards her son and screamed “Get out! Now!”

It took a moment, but the blushing man quickly rushed outside without even putting a coat on or bringing any of his weapons with him. On the other hand, Azra remained seated, too nervous and embarrassed to say anything.

Joanna guided the Yuri over to a wooden cabinet and was on the verge of crying again, as she said “Don’t worry, you’re with family now Catherine… No one is going to force you to do those kinds of things ever again. Okay?”

“Why did you prevent me from gaining Henry Lucas’ trust? Are you concerned that I might infect him with a sexually transmitted disease? I must gain his trust so that he will give that item to me. It is incredibly important.”

The more Yuri spoke, the harder it was for Joanna to keep from breaking down. She hugged the girl who was not much smaller than herself and whispered “It’s okay… You aren’t dirty. It’s not your fault. I’m sure that Henry will trust you eventually, but you can’t do those kinds of things with family members. It’s wrong. Here, put on this gown.”

Part 7: A Childish Game

Azra reached over the table and grabbed the wooden pawn, then muttered “Woah, wasn’t that like… Way too easy?” He opened up the chessboard and pulled the silver king out of his pocket. Then he placed the pieces onto the board, but there was no effect. He turned and whispered “Pst~, Sis~… Look~!”

After Yuri put on a thin and white wool gown, she hurriedly walked over to the table. Joanna stared for a moment and then asked “Is that some kind of game? You were willing to seduce my son for a piece of some childish game?” She couldn’t even imagine what kind of horrible life the two of them had lived so far.

“A game? Indeed… This device certainly contains many types of games. However, it is far more than what you imagine it to be.” Right when Yuri was about to touch her chess pieces, there was a bloodcurdling scream coming from outside the village.

Henry rushed back inside the house, with a grim expression. Joanna shouted “What was that?! Are they here already?!”

“They’re at the gates…” He hurriedly grabbed his coat, greatsword, bow, quiver and hunting knife before turning towards the expressionless girl. After glancing at the table for a moment, he grumbled “If that stupid ornament means so much to you, then take it! But I hope you brats know how to fight, because there is nowhere to run now…”

An eerie smirk formed on Yuri’s lips for an instant, as she picked up her king and moved it forward three spaces. She placed the pawn in front of the king and Azra moved his piece up two spaces.

Then the entire chess set abruptly flashed and a soft, feminine voice whispered “Battle Mode Activated… Uriel has chosen offense and Azrael has chosen offense. You may now summon your towers and units.”

Joanna gasped in shock, while Henry yelled “What sorcery is this?!” The two of them saw a huge holographic map of the village appear out of thin air and simply couldn’t comprehend what they were witnessing.

Azra’s previous social anxiety lessened a bit from the rush of adrenaline, as he shouted “Stop freaking out and go tell everyone to get their asses into that giant silver keep!”

“Keep? What are you-”

There was a deafening explosion coming from the center of the village, which had previously been an empty space. When Henry and his mother looked out the window, they saw a massive fortress appear only a dozen meters away from their front door. It was as if the building literally fell from the sky. Of course, it was actually just teleported there, but the noise was from the massive amount of air that had been instantly displaced.

While the two of them were distracted, the twins and their magical chessboard vanished. Joanna stared at the spot where the two teenagers had previously been and muttered “Henry, I think you were right… Some sort of God is definitely on our side!”

*Author’s Note*

Okay, so… Yeah, I left you guys with a massive cliffhanger :P.

Each of these chapters are about 3500-7000 words. But the reason why I do them in parts is mainly because it makes it easier to switch to other perspectives… It’s also easier to edit and write, if I don’t have to keep thinking “Ah, I really need to make this chapter longer!” or “Shit, this chapter is way too long!”

I got into the habit of doing super small chapter parts while making the diary entries in “TDoDK, and since then, I just like this way better lmao.

Volume 2 of “Tower Defense Deities” is almost finished… After that, I’m pretty much 100% sure that I’ll be going back to “Hardcore Legacies” to finish things off there. I’ve put too many stories on the back-burner for way too long rofl. I need to start ending things for real.

The Diary of Destiny King

Tower Defense Deities

Chapter 5